October
???.1965:
Harrison Verrett (56) American guitarist and banjo player. He worked
with Papa Celestin, Kid Ory and with his brother in-law Fats Domino (?)
b. February 27th 1909.

October
1st.1708:
John Blow (59) British composer and organist of
Westminster Abbey and writer of over 100 anthems. Born at Newark, Nottinghamshire,
he wrote for the king and was appointed Composer to the Chapel Royal. His pupils
included William Croft, Jeremiah Clarke and Henry Purcell. (He died at his house
in Broad Sanctuary, and buried in the north aisle of Westminster Abbey). (baptised
February 23
1649)1975: Al Jackson Jr (39)American drummer with
the legendary Stax band, Booker T and the MG's. He started out in his fathers
band at the age of 5. He later began playing in Willie Mitchell's band and the
Ben Branch Band. In the 1960s he was a founding member of the group, Booker T.
& The MG'S.
Al was called "The Human Timekeeper" for his drumming ability, he designed
the groove and thats what the band played to.
Their many hits include "Green Onions," "Hip Hug-Her," "Hang
'Em High," and "Time Is Tight" accompanying such greats as, Otis
Redding, Rufus Thomas, Wilson Pickett, William Bell and Al Green. (
Al was murdered after confronting an intruder in his home)b.
November 27th 1935.1983:
Freddy Martin (76)
American bandleader and tenor saxophonist, born in Cleveland, Ohio. Raised largely
in an orphanage and with various relatives, he started out playing drums, switching
to C-melody saxophone and later tenor saxophone. He recorded first for Columbia
Records in 1932, then Brunswick Records till 1938. Afterwards he appeared on RCA's
Bluebird and Victor Records. The band also recorded pseudonymously in the early
'30s, backing singers such as Will Osborne. His real success came in 1941 with
an arrangement from the first movement of Tchaikovskys B-flat piano concerto.
He recorded the piece instrumentally, but soon lyrics were put in and it was re-cut
as "Tonight We Love" with Clyde Rogers' vocal - becoming his biggest
hit. Freddys popularity as a bandleader led him to Hollywood in the 1940s
where he and his band appeared in a handful of films, including Seven Days' Leave
in 1942, Stage Door Canteen in 1943 and 1948's
Melody
Time, among others (sadly died after a lingering illness) b.
December 9th 1906.1986:
Andy McVann (21)English drummer in the
band Soul of Socialism, and also a founding member of "The Farm" along
with Peter Hooton, Steve Grimes, John Melvin in 1983. In
1984, Andy and The Farm released their
debut single, "Hearts and Minds", produced by Graham "Suggs"
McPherson (Andy died in a car crash during a police chase)b.19651992: Harry
Ray (45) American lead singer
with The Moments and Ray, Goodman & Brown; The
Moments had a total of 27 R&B chart hits, but his biggest hit came with Ray,Goodman
& Brown's "Special Lady".
He was strongly involved in writing & producing much of their material as
well as performing, production and writing duties for All-Platinum's other artists.
He recorded a duet with Sylvia Robinson
"Sho Nuff Boogie", although it was billed as Sylvia & the Moments)
in 1973. (died suddenly from a stroke)
b. Dec 15th 1946 1996: Joonas Kokkonen (74)Finnish
composer, he served in the Finnish army during WW2 with great distinction. He
studied at the University of Helsinki, and later at the Sibelius Academy, where
he afterwards taught composition. He went on to become one of the most internationally
famous Finnish composers of the 20th century after Sibelius. His first success
was his 1st symphony in '60. In the 60s-early 70s he won many prizes for his work
and he was appointed to the Finnish Academy upon the death of Uuno Klami. Joonas
wrote 4 symphonies and other large orchestral
works that are very unique in the Finnish musical history, vocal works, like his
"Requiem" and the Opera "The Last Temptations" and a great
number of large chamber works, like the 3 String Quartets. His
1975 opera The Last Temptations has received over 500 performances worldwide,
and is considered by many to be Finland's most distinguished national opera.(?)b. November 13th 1921.
NOTE:
The date of Joonas Kokkonen's
death has been variously reported as October 1st 1996 (New Grove Dictionary, and
various internet sources); October 2nd 1996 (internet sources, including the Finnish
Music Center); and October 20th 1996 (New Grove Dictionary of Opera).1998: Pauline Julien, CQ (70)Canadian
singer, songwriter, actress, feminist activist and Quebec sovereigntist born
in Trois-Rivières, Québec. She worked with Gilles Vigneault and
recorded with him as well as performing pro-independence songs in Montréal
clubs as early as 1964 and later made a career as one of Québec's most
successful female popular singers. Julien's best-loved songs include "La
Manic". In 1994 France decorated her with the title Chevalier des Arts et
des Lettres and was made a Chevalière de l'Ordre national du Québec
(after being diagnosed with a debilitating brain disease,
tragically Julien took her own life) b. May 23rd
1928.1999: Lena Zavaroni (35)
Scottish singer, acoustic guitarist and TV show host. Born in Greenock, she was
discovered in the summer of 1973 by record producer Tommy Scott, who was on holiday
in Rothesay and heard her singing
in a band with her father and uncle.
In 1974 Lena appeared on Hughie Greens Opportunity Knocks and won the show
for a record-breaking five weeks running. She followed this with the album "Ma,
He's Making Eyes At Me", at only 10 years of age, she is the youngest person
in history to have an album in the UK top
10 album chart. Also in '74 she sang
at a Hollywood charity show with Frank Sinatra and Lucille Ball. She appeared
in the Morecambe and Wise Show, the '76 Royal Variety Show and performed at the
White House for President Gerald Ford. While attending London's Italia Conti Academy
stage school, Lena met and became long-term friends with child star Bonnie Langford.
The two starred in the TV special
Lena and Bonnie. Between
1979 and 1982, Lena had her own TV series on the BBC, Lena Zavaroni and Music,
her guests included Spike Milligan and Les Dawson.(Lena
had suffered badly from anorexia since the age of 14,
she died from pneumonia 3 weeks after an operation for leukotomy)b. November 4th 1963.2000: Robert
Allen / Robert Allen Deitcher
(73) American pianist and songwriter, born in Troy, New York.
He
was an accompanist for Perry Como, Peter Lind Hayes, and Arthur Godfrey. Some
of his compositions were collaborations with lyricist Al Stillman. His many songs
include "You Alone (Solo Tu)", "It's Not for Me to Say", "(There's
No Place Like) Home for the Holidays", "To Know You (Is to Love You)",
"Everybody Loves a Lover", "If Dreams Came True", and "Chances
Are" (?)
b. February 5th 1927.2004:
Bruce Palmer (58)Canadian
bassist; brought
up in Toronto, Canada, Bruce began playing music at age 10. He played in the Mynah
Birds with a young Rick James, which would eventually include fellow Canadian
Neil Young. Mynah Birds auditioned for Motown Records but split when James left
the band. He went on to co-found Buffalo Springfield in April 1966 in Toronto
with Young, Stephen Stills, Dewey Martin and Richie Furay. Over just 19 months
in 1967 and '68, the group established itself as a folk/country/rock pioneer,
producing the transcendent political anthem "For What It's Worth". Bruce
left Buffalo Springfield in January 1968, replaced by Jim Messina, but the band
was finished shortly thereafter. He went on to release a 1971 solo album for Verve,
"The Cycle is Complete," featuring James on percussion. In 1982, Bruce
reteamed with Young (Bruce sadly died of a heart attack)b.September 9th 1946...read
more2005:
Paul Pena (55)American
singer, songwriter and guitarist of Cape Verdean descent. His
music from the first half of his career touched on Delta blues, jazz, morna, flamenco,
folk and rock and roll. In February 1969, his band played for a week at The Electric
Factory in Philadelphia, opening twice, for both Frank Zappa and the Mothers of
Invention and The Grateful Dead, after which they moved to San Francisco. Paul
is probably best known for writing the song "Jet Airliner," a major
1977 hit for the Steve Miller Band and a staple of classic rock radio; and for
appearing in the 1999 documentary film Genghis Blues, wherein he displayed his
abilities in the field of Tuvan throat singing (he
died after a long brave battle with diabetes and pancreatitis)b. January
26th 1950. 2007:
Ronnie Hazlehurst (79)British conductor and theme song composer
born in Dukinfield, Cheshire. During his spare time, he played in a band, and
soon became a professional. His band appeared on the BBC Light Programme. He left
and moved to Manchester, where he became a freelance musician until he was offered
a place on another band at a nightclub in London. Ronnie then worked at Granada
for about a year in 1955. He joined the BBC in 1961, became its Light Entertainment
Musical Director. He
composed the theme tunes for many well known British sitcoms and shows of the
1970s and 1980s, including Are You Being Served?; Last of the Summer Wine; Some
Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em; Yes Minister
The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin; To the Manor Born and Three Up, Two Down
to mention a few. In addition, he wrote the theme tunes for the sketch show The
Two Ronnies, the game shows Blankety Blank, Odd One Out and Bruce Forsyth's The
Generation Game and the chat show Wogan. Ronnie was also involved with the Eurovision
Song Contest and was the musical director when the event was hosted by the United
Kingdom in 1974, 1977 and 1982. He conducted the British entry on seven occasions,
in '77, '82, '87, '88, '89, '91 and '92. In 1999, he was awarded a Gold Badge
from the British Academy of Composers and Songwriters (died
after suffering a stroke) b. March 13th 1928.2011: David Bedford (74)British composer
and keyboard player born in Hendon, London. He studied music at the Royal Academy
of Music and later in Venice. In 1969, he was engaged to orchestrate Kevin Ayers'
album Joy of a Toy, on which he also played keyboards, this led to his role as
keyboardist for Ayers' cult band 'The Whole World', which led to numerous collaborations
with musicians from the rock world, most notably in arrangements for Mike Oldfield,
Elvis Costello, Frankie goes to Hollywood, Roy Harper, Propaganda, China Crisis,
Enya, Billy Bragg and many more. For over 30 years he has received commissions
from major orchestras, festivals, ensembles and soloists, including the English
Sinfonia, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra,
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, John Alldis
Choir, Singcircle, Electric Phoenix, Endymion Ensemble, Sir Peter Pears, Jane's
Minstrels, BASBWE, The Composers Ensemble, The Aldeburgh Festival, Harrogate Festival,
Spitalfields Festival, Chelmsford Festival, Huddersfield Festival, Kings Lynn
Festival, Norfolk and Norwich Festival and many BBC commissions including 4 for
the Proms. Also from 1969 to 1981, David was Composer in Residence at Queen's
College, London. From 1968 to 1980, he taught music in a number of London secondary
schools. In 1996 he was appointed Composer in Association with the English Sinfonia.
In 2001 he was appointed Chairman of the Performing Right Society, having previously
been Deputy Chairman(sadly
David died while fighting lung cancer)b.
August 4th 1937.2013: John Hopkins AM OBE
(86) Australian
conductor and music administrator; he was born in Yorkshire, UK, where he became
one of the youngest ever conductors of a BBC orchestra. In 1957 he moved to New
Zealand then
moved to Australia in the 1960s where he became the director of music at the ABC.
He founded the Darwin Symphony Orchestra and started an orchestra at the Great
Barrier Reef.
Never loosing touch with music in New Zealnd he led the National Orchestra of
New Zealand, as well as the New Zealand Opera Company and founded the New Zealand
National Youth Orchestra. He conducted the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra in
1987 for one of New Zealands first Composers Reading Workshops and
also took orchestral music to parts of South Africa. In 1970 John was named an
Officer of the British Empire and this year, 2013, he was made a Member of the
Order of Australia(?)b.
July 19th 1927.2014: Lynsey de Paul/Lynsey Monckton Rubin (64)English singer-songwriter,
born in Cricklewood, London; while attending Hornsey College of Art, and wanting
to leave home, she started to design album sleeves for artists which required
her to listen to the tracks. From this income, she rented her first flat, where
she turned to songwriting. Lynsey first co-wrote several songs for child star
Jack Wild including "Takin' It Easy" and "Bring It On Back to Me",
released in 1971. In 1972 she wrote Storm In A Teacup with her friend
Ron Roker, which became a top 10 hit for The Fortunes. As a singer, her biggest
of 5 top 20 hits was her "Sugar Me" which peaked at No.5 in the singles
chart in 1972 just a year after she had launched >>>READ
MORE<<<(sadly
died from a brain haemorrhage) b. June 11th 1950.
2015:
Usnija Redepova (69)Macedonian singer
of Romani and Turkish origin, born in Skopje. She played in the National Theatre
in Belgrade for 25 years and was honored with a national award from the Serbian
government on December 29th 2011 (sadly died after
a brave battle with lung cancer) b. February 4th
1946.2016:
Toni Williams/Henry Anthony Williams (77) Cook Islands-born New Zealand
singer born in Parekura in the Avarua District of Rarotonga. He began singing
at the Ghandi Dance Hall in Auckland City where he became a local sensation and
formed a local band Toni Williams and The Tremellos. In 1960 he released his hit
single, "Cradle Of Love" followed by, that same year, "Let The
Little Girl Dance" and "Endlessly". In 1972, his single "Tellabout"
was an APRA Silver Scroll-nominated song. In the 2010 Queen's Birthday Honours
Williams was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services
to entertainment (?) b. 1938/1939October
2nd.1971:
Bola de Nieve/Ignacio Jacinto Villa (60)Cuban
singer-pianist and songwriter; he studied at the Mateu Conservatoire of Havana,
worked as a chauffeur and played piano for silent films until his friend Rita
Montaner took him on as an accompanist in the early '30s taking him to Mexico.
He stayed in Mexico and developed an original performance style as a pianist-singer.
He became an elite, sophisticated cabaret stylist known for ironic patter, subtle
musical interpretation, with a repertoire that included songs in French, English,
Catalan, Portuguese and Italian and he toured widely in Europe and the Americas
(?)
b. September 11th 1911.1976:
Quentin "Butter"
Jackson (57)
American jazz trombonist born in Springfield,
Ohio; in his early career he worked with Cab Calloway and was in the Duke Ellington
Orchestra. Later he did notable work with Charles Mingus, Kenny Burrell, and others.(?)b. January 13th 1909.1981:
Hazel Scott (61)West
Indian jazz and classical pianist and singer;
born in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago and raised in New York City from the
age of four. She performed extensively on piano as a child, then trained at the
Juilliard School. She appeared in the production Priorities of 1942 and performed
numerous times at the Carnegie Hall. She was known for improvising on classical
themes and also played boogie-woogie, blues, and ballads and her
album Relaxed Piano Moods with Charles Mingus and Max Roach, is highly regarded
by critics today. Hazel was the first
coloured lady to have her own TV show, The Hazel Scott Show, which premiered on
the DuMont Television Network on July 3rd 1950. However, due to her public opposition
to McCarthyism and racial segregation, the show was canceled, the final broadcast
was September 29th 1950. Hazel also appeared in numerous films, including 'Something
To Shout About', 'I Dood It', 'Broadway Rhythm', 'The Heat's On' and 'Rhapsody
in Blue' (?) b. June 11th 1920.1989: "Cousin Joe" Pleasant/Pleasant
Joseph (81) American
blues vocalist and guitarist born in Wallace, Louisiana;
he made a name for himself on the Crescent City nightclub circuit of the mid-1930s
before relocating to New York City in 1942. He is now more famous for his 1940s
recordings with clarinetist Sidney Bechet and saxophonist Mezz Mezzrow. He recorded
an impromptu 1971 session under the title Bad Luck Blues, followed in 1973 by
Cousin Joe from New Orleans
(?)b.
December 20th 1907.1993: Ahmed Abdul-Malik/Jonathan Tim Jr (66)American jazz double bassist and oud player
born in Brooklyn, New York; he learnt the violin as a child, which earned him
a spot in the All-City Orchestra. He went on to be noted for integrating Middle
Eastern and North African music styles in his jazz music. He was the bassist for
Art Blakey, Randy Weston, and Thelonious Monk among others. As an oud player he
did a tour of South America for the United States Department of State and performed
at an African jazz festival in Morocco.(?) b. January 30th 1927. 1994:
Harriet
Nelson/Peggy
Lou Snyder(85) American
singer and actress, born in Des Moines, Iowa; by 1932, she was performing in vaudeville
when she met the saxophone-playing bandleader Ozzie Nelson, who hired her to sing
with the band, under the name Harriet Hilliard. They married three years later.
Harriot
also went on to have a respectable film career and as a solo performer, as well
as her work with the band. She is also well known for her role on the long-
running sitcom The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet.(Sadly
Harriet died of congestive heart failure)b. July 18th 1909.1998: Gene Autry (91)American
performer who gained fame as The Singing Cowboy on the radio, in movies and on
television for more than three decades beginning in the 1930s. Gene was also owner
of the Los Angeles/California Angels Major League Baseball team from 1961 to 1997,
as well as a television station and several radio stations in southern California.Although
his signature song was "Back in the Saddle Again", he is best known
today for his Christmas holiday songs, his self penned "Here Comes Santa
Claus", "Frosty the Snowman", and his biggest hit, "Rudolph
the Red-Nosed Reindeer". He was a member of both the Country Music and Nashville
Songwriters halls of fame, and is the only celebrity to have five stars on the
Hollywood Walk of Fame(lymphoma)
b. September 29th 1907.1999:
Georg Tintner CM (82) Austrian-born
conductor whose career was principally in New Zealand, Australia, and Canada.
As
a child he was a singer in the Vienna Boys' Choir, and studied composition and
conducting at the Vienna State Academy.In
1938, he moved out of Vienna before moving to Auckland, New Zealand in 1940. He
conducted a church choir until after the war, when he took over the Auckland Choral
Society in 1947, and the Auckland String Players in 1948. He became a New Zealand
citizen in 1946. In 1954, he went to Australia and became resident conductor of
the National Opera of Australia before joining the Australian Elizabethan Theatre
Trust Opera in 1957. He spent a year with the Cape Town Municipal Orchestra 1966-67
and three years with Sadler's Wells Opera 1967-70 before returning to Australia
as Music Director of the West Australian Opera. In 1974, he rejoined the Australian
Elizabethan Theatre Trust Opera, by then known as the Australian Opera. He became
Music Director of the Queensland Theatre Orchestra in 1976. In 1987 he moved to
Canada, where he became director of Symphony Nova Scotia. In 1998, he was made
a Member of the Order of Canada(so sadly after a six-year struggle
with cancer, Georg
jumped to his death from the balcony
of his 11th-storey Halifax apartment)
b. May 22nd 1917.2007: Tawn Mastrey (53)American
disc jockey, music video producer, and one of rock radio's top media personalities.
She
was among the first to add new artists such as AC/DC, Cheap Trick, The Sex Pistols,
The Ramones, Devo, The Police, Joan Jett, and other now legendary bands to the
playlist while working as Music Director at KSJO, the San Francisco Bay highest
rated Album Oriented Rock station during the late 1970s, Tawn had a profound
impact on the fate of Hard Rock, Punk, New Wave and later Heavy Metal music at
KNAC where the subsequent Los Angeles Metal Band scene gave birth to artists like
Ratt, Mötley Crüe, Guns NRoses et al. As a fairly open 
minded Music Director and DJ at KSJO, Tawn was a deciding voice in which new artists
would be played and added to the KSJO catalogue and decidedly liberal playlist
which only required DJs to play Star artists after commercial
breaks (effects of hepatitis C, which she contracted as
a child) b. August 20th 1954.2010: Art Jarvinen (54)American
composer, teacher and musician, originally from Ohio. He attended the California
Institute of the Arts, studying percussion. He eventually studied composition
there with Morton Subotnick, Stephen Mosko, and Earle Brown. Art composed over
80 compositions and worked closely with both Frank Zappa and Captain Beefheart.
In 1981, he earned a Masters of Fine Arts degree and began teaching at the California
Institute of the Arts. That same year Art
became an the original member of the California
EAR Unit, an American chamber ensemble dedicated to the performance of contemporary
classical music (?)
b. 1956.2012: Big Jim Sullivan/James George
Tomkins (71) British guitarist born in Middlesex. In 1959, he met Marty
Wilde at The 2i's Coffee Bar, and was invited to become a member of his backing
group, the Wildcats, who were the warm up act on the television series, Oh, Boy!.
The Wildcats backed Eddie Cochran and Gene Vincent on their tour of Britain in
1960. In the 60s and 70s he also played on hits by Billy Fury, Frank Ifield, Adam
Faith, Frankie Vaughan, Helen Shapiro, Freddie and the Dreamers, Cilla Black,
Tom Jones, Shirley Bassey, Dusty Springfield, Georgie Fame, Bobby Darin, Little
Richard, The Walker Brothers, Donovan, David Bowie, Engelbert Humperdinck, Benny
Hill, The New Seekers, Thunderclap Newman, Love Affair, Long John Baldry, Marmalade,
Small Faces, The Tremeloes, Rolf Harris, George Harrison and many more as well
as being a member of Tom Jones' band. He performed on 55 No.1 hits singles during
this time. In 1975, he teamed up with Derek Lawrence, to form the record label,
Retreat Records. They produced various artists over a period of about two years.
Amongst them were Labi Siffre, Chas & Dave and McGuinness Flint and he produced
and arranged Siffre's "I Got The ..." which was sampled by Eminem. Jim
and Lawrence went to the United States during this period, to produce the glam
metal band, Angel. In 1978, he became part of the James Last Orchestra for nine
years, also toured with Olivia Newton-John after her success with Grease. In 1987,
he began composing music for films and jingles. Later, he and guitarist Doug Pruden
toured as the BJS Duo, and he also played in the Big Jim Sullivan Band with Pete
Shaw, Duncan McKenzie
and Malcolm Mortimore. In 2006 he
was featured in the Guitar Maestros DVD series with Doug Pruden. (sadly Jim died
from complications of heart disease and diabetes) b. February
14th 19412013: Kaare
Alexander Ørnung (82)
Norwegian pianist and music teacher.born in Oslo and he
made his debut in 1952, worked at the Veitvet Music Academy between 1959 and 1973
and at the Opera College in 1968. From 1973 he was a lecturer at the Norwegian
Academy, then associate professor from 1974. He collaborated among others with
violinist Arve Tellefsen and the two played together on the records Du milde Mosart
in 1977 and Serenade in 1980. He also played in many concerts organized by among
others, Rikskonsertene (?)
b.
January 26th 1931.2015:
Coleridge Goode (100)Jamaican-born
British jazz bassist born in Kingston, Jamaica
who
went on to become one of the finest jazz bassists who has worked in Europe.
He moved to Britain in 1934 as a 19-year-old student at the Royal Technical College
in Glasgow, then read for a degree in engineering at Glasgow University. He was
already adept as an amateur classical violinist but turned to jazz and took up
the bass after hearing the music of Count Basie, Duke Ellington and Billie Holiday
and so decided to embark upon a musical career.>>>READ
MORE<<<(sadly
Coleridge died at his home in West London following a heart attack)
b. November 29th
1914. 2015:
Willie Akins (76)American jazz saxophonist, born in
Webster Groves, Missouri and attended Douglass High School. In 1957, he moved
to New York City to work as a musician, but in 1961 produced his first record
when he was in Chicago, playing in the band of Bobby Bryant; he also was involved
in recording the works of Groove Holmes (Swedish Lullaby, 1984). In 1968, he returned
to returned to St. Louis, where in the years that followed, he performed with
his own quartet and presented two albums under his own name, Alima and the St.
Louis Connection. He also taught at the Faculty of Jazz Studies at the Webster
University. In the field of jazz, from 1961-2012 Willie was involved to nine recording
sessions. (He
had been suffering from congestive heart disease)
b. April 10th 19392016:
Thomas Round (100) English opera singer and actor, best known for
his performances in the tenor roles of the Savoy Operas and in grand opera.Born and raised in Barrow-in-Furness, he began working as a joiner and then
a police officer. During World War II, he served in the Royal Air Force, training
in Texas and later becoming a flight instructor for the United States Air Force,
while singing in churches. He sang leading tenor roles in the Gilbert and Sullivan
operas for the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company from 1946 to 1949. He next spent six
years in the 1950s singing opera and operetta with Sadler's Wells Opera. From
1958 to 1964, Thomas again performed mostly with the D'Oyly Carte company. In
1963, he co-founded a new ensemble, Gilbert and Sullivan for All, with which he
toured extensively over the next two decades, singing and serving as one of the
company's directors. He also sang in oratorio and concerts, broadcast on radio
and television, and is heard on many recordings. He published a biography in 2002
and in 2006, he became the president of Lancaster & District Choral Society,
serving until 2015. Sadly Thomas's
wife Alice died in 2010; the couple were married for 72 years. (?)
b. October 18th 1915.2016: Steve Byrd (61)
English guitarist born in Sheffield; he joined the band Zzebra for
their second album Panic, after his friend Tommy Eyre had recommended him. With
Zzebra he played the Reading Festival in 1975 and recorded another album, Take
It Or Leave It. In 1978 he replaced Paul Simon in Ian North's band Neo. Neo recorded
an album in Ian Gillan's studio, and after Gillan had heard them he hired Steve
for his own band. In 1982, Steve auditioned for singer Kim Wilde and became a
member of her backing band. With Kim, he co-wrote "Another Step", "Hey
Mister Heartache" and many other songs as well as played on some of her albums.
He toured with Kim Wilde until the mid-1990s. Also in the 1990s, he was a member
of 4 Bills And A Ben band. Others he toured with include The Buggles, Martha and
the Muffins, Billy Ocean, Ruby Turner, Samantha Fox, A Flock of Seagulls, Pet
Shop Boys, Erasure, Bonnie Tyler, Alec Mansion, Shakin' Stevens, Heartbeat UK
and Kim Appleby, as well as being the MD of the Byrdsongs record label. (sadly
died from a heart attack)
b. 1955.2016:
Sir Neville Marriner CH, CBE (92)British conductor, violinist and
founder of the Academy of St Martin in the Fields. Born in Lincoln, he was educated
at Lincoln Grammar School, where he played in a jazz band with the composer Steve
Race. In 1939, he went to the Royal College of Music in London, where he got the
opportunity to play among the second violins of the London Symphony Orchestra.
In 1948, he became a professor of the Royal College of Music and took up the position
of second violinist of the Martin String Quartet, continuing to play with the
quartet for 13 years. In 1958, he founded the Academy of St Martin in the Fields;
initially a twelve-member chamber ensemble, it soon expanded to a chamber orchestra.
Neville was the founder and first music director of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra,
from 1969 to 1978 and from 1979 to 1986, he was music director of the Minnesota
Orchestra. He was principal conductor of the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra
from 1986 to 1989 and remained the musical director of the Academy of St Martin
in the Fields until 2011. He conducted many other orchestras, including the New
York Chamber Orchestra, Gulbenkian Orchestra, Israel Chamber Orchestra, Australian
Chamber Orchestra, the Vienna Philharmonic and continued to conduct into his nineties,
becoming the oldest conductor of a Proms concert in 2014, aged 90 (?)
b. April 15th 1924.

October
3rd.1966:
David Lambert (49) American
jazz lyricist, singer, and an originator of vocalese. He was best known as a member
of the trio Lambert, Hendricks & Ross. He spent a lifetime experimenting with
the human voice, and expanding the possibilities of its use within jazz.
His
band debut was with Johnny Long's Orchestra in the early 1940s. Along with early
partner Buddy Stewart, he successfully brought singing into modern jazz, concurrently
with Ella Fitzgerald. In the late 1950s he teamed with wordsmith, and vocalese
pioneer Jon Hendricks. The two were later joined by Annie Ross, and the lineup
was a hit.(Tragically he was hit and killed by a car while changing
a tyre)b. June
19th 1917.1967: Woodrow
Wilson "Woody" Guthrie (55)American singer-songwriter
and folk musician, whose musical legacy includes 100s of political, traditional
and children's songs, ballads and improvised works. He frequently performed with
the slogan This Machine Kills Fascists displayed on his guitar. His best-known
song is "This Land Is Your Land", which is regularly sung in American
schools. Many of his recorded songs are archived in the Library of Congress. Such
songwriters as Bob Dylan, Phil Ochs and Tom Paxton have acknowledged their debt
to Woody as an influence. He
traveled with migrant workers from Oklahoma to California and learned traditional
folk and blues songs. Many of his songs are about his experiences in the Dust
Bowl era during the Great Depression, earning him the nickname the "Dust
Bowl Troubadour". Throughout his life Woody was associated with United States
communist groups, though he was never an actual member of any. During his later
years, in spite of his illness, Woody served as a figurehead in the folk movement,
providing inspiration to a generation of new folk musicians, including mentor
relationships with Ramblin' Jack Elliott and Bob Dylan. Woody was inducted into
the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame in 1997 (died
from complications of Huntington's disease)
b. July 14th 1912.2000: Benjamin Orr/Benjamin
Orzechowski (53)American bassist and vocalist; born in Lakewood,
Ohio, he learnt to play many instruments including the guitar, drums,
bass, and keyboards.
In his early days he was known as "Bennie Eleven-Letters"
and dropped out of High School to play in local bands such as Mixed Emotions and
The Grasshoppers as lead singer and guitarist. The latter was the house band on
the syndicated TV show Upbeat produced by WEWS-TV in Cleveland. In 1970 he moved
to Columbus, Ohio, where he met Ric Ocasek and formed a musical partnership that
would continue to the end of his life. Along with lead guitarist Jas Goodkind,
they formed a folk band called Milkwood. The group released one album, "How's
the Weather?" in 1972. By the mid 1970s he was working in a Boston night
club band, Cap'n Swing, whose members included future Cars leader Ric Ocasek and
guitarist Elliot Easton. After the group broke up in 1975, the three of them joined
up with keyboardist Greg Hawkes and drummer David Robinson to form The Cars in
1976. After several top hits and multi-platinum albums with The Cars, he released
his only solo project The Lace in 1986. Ben continued to work with The Cars for
one more album before their breakup in 1988, after which he recorded tracks with
guitarist John Kalishes. From 1998 until his death in 2000, he performed with
three bands, including his own band "ORR", The Voices of Classic Rock,
and Big People (sadly died of pancreatic cancer)b. September 8th 1947.2007:
Elfi von Dassanowsky (83)
Austrian-American singer, pianist and film producer;
a
piano prodigy at 5, she attended the Vienna Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary
and at aged 15, became
the
youngest woman admitted to Vienna's Academy of Music and Performing Arts to that
date to be trained as an opera singer and concert pianist as the protégé
of concert pianist, Emil von Sauer. In 1946, she made her opera debut in Mozart's
"Marriage of Figaro" and her wide soprano to mezzo range gained her
rapid fame in leading roles in throughout Central Europe. She is one of the few
women in history, and one of the youngest, at age 23, to co-found a major film
studio--Belvedere Film Vienna. As creative producer she helped revitalize Austrian
cinema and discover such European film talent as Nadja Tiller and Gunther Philipp.
Elfi initiated musical theatre groups, was announcer for Allied Forces Broadcasting
and the BBC, toured Central Europe in a one-woman-show and gave master classes
in voice and piano, often to refugees who could not gain entry into music academies.In Hollywood in the early 1960s, she resisted becoming a
starlet and remained behind the camera in an industry that did not yet accept
women in the leading production role she had in Europe. She worked as a noted
vocal coach for director Otto Preminger on such films as "In Harm's Way"
and "The Cardinal". In 1999, Elfi re-established Belvedere Film with
her son as a LA-based production company and served as Executive Producer of the
award-winning dramatic short film, "Semmelweis," the spy-comedy "Wilson
Chance," and the documentary "The Archduke and Herbert Hinkel."
Dassanowsky was honored for her pioneering work by Austria, by the cities of Los
Angeles and Vienna, as well as by the State of California which declared February
2nd 1996, "Elfi von Dassanowsky Day." She was named a Chevalier of the
Ordre des Arts et des Letters of France, and she received the Austrian Film Archive's
Lifetime Achievement Medal and the UNESCO Mozart Medal, among many other awards
(sadly Elfi died from heart failure)
b. February 2nd 1924.2007:
Giuseppe Valdengo (93)Italian operatic baritone
born in Turin. He is probably best remembered for his NBC radio broadcasts of
Otello-1947 as Iago, Aida-1949 as Amonasro, and Falstaff-1950 as the title role.
The Toscanini Aida, with Herva Nelli in the name part, was simulcast on both television
and radio, one of the first instances of such an event, and the telecast has been
released on both VHS and DVD. Giuseppe also appeared in one film, MGM's movie,
The Great Caruso-1951, starring Mario Lanza as the famous tenor. During the 1950s
Giuseppe sang in most of the principal European opera houses, most often portraying
roles from the Verdi baritone repertory(?)
b. May
24th 19142009:
Robert Kirby (61)British
keyboard player and arranger of string sections for rock and folk music; he studied
at Cambridge where with fellow students he sang in a group called 'The Gentle
Power of Song'. By 1978 Robert had already
had recorded arrangements for over 40 albums.
Also from 1975-1978 he was one of the two keyboard players for Strawbs, touring
the UK and internationally, and getting some composing credits on the albums Deep
Cuts, Deadlines and Burning for You. He did some further arranging for Strawbs
with Baroque & Roll in 2001, Déjà Fou in 2004 and 2009's Dancing
to the Devil's Beat. He is best known for his work on the Nick Drake albums, Five
Leaves Left and Bryter Layter, but has also worked with Elton John, Ralph McTell,
Paul Weller, Elvis Costello and the dutch band Flemming. In July 2005, Robert
conducted an 18-piece orchestra in Manhattan's Central Park for a show of Drake's
music, using his original scores (?)
b. April 16th
1948.2011: Kay Armen (95)American
singer, actress and composer who has made many records and performed in theatres,
night clubs, films and television. She joined ASCAP in 1953 and her popular-song
compositions include "Be Good to Yourself"; "My Love and I";
and "It's a Sin to Cry Over You"(?) b.
November 2nd 1915. 2011: Mikko Laine (30)Finnish guitarist and member of the progressive-melancholic-metal
band Sole
Remedy which was formed in the late '90s and has released two studio albums to
date, 2007's 'The Wounded Ones' and last year's 'Apoptosis'.
The band has played along side the likes of Symphony X, Mekong Delta and Long
Distance Calling, among others.(The band were on tour at the time Mikko died; after performing
at the ProgPower Europe festival in Baarlo, Holland, Mikko was backstage asleep
when a truck reversed onto him tragically killing him) b. ????2012:
Kathryn "Kathi" McDonald (64)American
singer born in Washington state and started performing professionally around Seattle
when she was 12 years old. At the age of 19 she moved to San Francisco and joined
Ike and Tina Turner as an Ikette, after which she did some work with Big Brother
& the Holding Company. In 1972 she recorded "Insane Asylum" for
Capitol Records. Also around this time she
contributed backing vocals on four
The Rolling
Stones
tracks
including the hit single Tumbling Dice and Save Your Breath which was released
over 20 years after. Kathi went on to devote more than two decades to recording
and performing in collaboration with Long John Baldry, and the duo scored with
their version of "You've Lost That Loving Feeling" when it was released
in Canada. In later years, she also contributed to the Seattle Women in Rhythm
and Blues project. She reunited with Big Brother & the Holding Company in
California for a concert on New Year's Eve, 1997 and was inducted into the Washington
Blues Society's Hall of Fame in 1999.
More recently Kathi often performed with Chicago Blues guitarist Rich Kirch and
also performed with her own band Kathi MacDonald and Friends (?)
b. September 25th 1948. 2013: Frank D'Rone (81)American jazz singer and guitarist born in Brockton, Massachusetts
and raised in Providence, Rhode Island. He began singing and playing the guitar
professionally at age five; at 11, he had his own local radio show and at 13 he
won an Artist's Degree in classical guitar from the American Guild of Stringed
Instruments. At age 18, he moved to New York and
in the late 50s he
moved
to Chicago where he attracted the attention of jazz greats such
as
Oscar Peterson, Stan Kenton and Nat King Cole. His first album, Frank D'Rone Sings,
was released in 1959 and included liner notes penned by Cole, who later helped
Frank earn several appearances on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson in the
1960s and 1970s. He also had a hit in the UK Singles Chart in 1960, with "Strawberry
Blonde (The Band Rocked On)". Frank continued to perform and record throughout
his life, his last album being "Double Exposure" released in 2012
(sadly Frank died while fighting cancer) b. April 26th 1932.2014:
Rob Skipper (28)British
guitarist, vocalist and a founding member of the UK indie rock band The Holloways.
The Holloways which was formed in north London in 2004, released two albums in
their seven year career, 'So This Is Great Britain?' in 2006 and 'No Smoke, No
Mirrors' in 2009, as well as a string of charting singles. They toured with The
Kooks, Babyshambles, The Pogues, The Rakes, The Wombats, The Pigeon Detectives
and CSS, as well as helping launch the careers of Frank Turner, Kid Harpoon and
Johnny Lloyd of Tribes inviting them to support on their numerous Holloway UK
tours. Rob was also known for his work in the side his project Rob Skipper &
The Musical Differences who he had recently been in the studio with and he was
also a member of the power-pop group HARES. (?)
b. 19862015:
Christopher Tambling (50-51)British composer
and choirmaster, from
1997 to 2015 he was music director at the Downside School and organist and conductor
of the Schola Cantorum at Downside Abbey. He established himself as a composer
and arranger of choral and organ works, his compositions are often characterized
by a romantic, expressive and Leichtfass union style.(sadly died fighting cancer) b. 1964.October 4th.1948:
Jan
Savitt/Jacob Savetnick (41)Russian
arranger, big bandleader, violinist, and vocalist born in Shumsk; he was invited
to joined the Philadelphia Orchestra when was only nineteen, having studied at
the Curtis Institute and in Europe.
In 1937 he formed his
band The Top Hatters and began touring the following year. Their songs include
"720 in the Books" "It's A Wonderful World" and his theme
songs "Quaker City Jazz" and "From Out Of Space". He was one
of the first of the Big Band leaders to feature an African American vocalist,
George Tunnell aka "Bon Bon". His other vocalists included Carlotta
Dale, Allan DeWitt, Joe Martin, and Gloria DeHaven (?)b.
September 4th 1907.1970:
Janis Joplin (27)American
blues singer born in Port Arthur, Texas; Janis always felt
a bit of an outcast and misfit at school and was teased badly. She took solice
in her love of the blues. Influenced by the likes of Bessie Smith, Leadbelly,
Odetta and Big Mama Thornton, she took to singing. She left Texas for San Francisco
in 1963, living in North Beach and later Haight-Ashbury. In 1964, Janis,
Jorma Kaukonen and Margareta Kaukonen
recorded a number of blues standards, this session included seven tracks: "Typewriter
Talk," "Trouble In Mind," "Kansas City Blues," "Hesitation
Blues", "Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out", "Daddy,
Daddy, Daddy" and "Long Black Train Blues," and was later released
as the bootleg album The Typewriter Tape. Not dealing with her drug problems well
she returned home to clean up. By '66 she was back fronting the psychedelic rock
band Big Brother and The Holding Company; thier first public performance was at
San
Francisco's Avalon Ballroom. They toured
heavily, appeared at festivals including Monterey, TV appearences, and released
two albums, "Big Brother and the Holding Company" in 1967 and "Cheap
Thrills" in 1968. At the Palace of Fine Arts Festival on August 31 and September
1 she announced that she would be leaving Big Brother. They toured through the
fall and Janis gave her last official performance with Big Brother at a Family
Dog benefit on December 1st 1968. After the split, Janis formed a new backup group,
the Kozmic Blues Band. The band was influenced by the Stax-Volt Rhythm and Blues
bands of the 1960s, Janis and the Kozmic Blues Band toured North America and Europe
throughout 1969, appearing at Woodstock in August. Janis released one album with
her new band "I Got Dem Ol' Kozmic Blues Again Mama!". Their final gig
with Janis was at Madison Square Garden in New York City on the night of December
1920, 1969. In her final year Janis holidayed in Brazil, after which she
formed her new backing band of mainly Canadian musicians The Full Tilt Boogie
Band, but she performed in a reunion with Big Brother at the Fillmore West in
San Francisco on April 4th 1970, recordings from this concert were included in
an in-concert album released, before
she started touring with Full Tilt Boogie
in the May. Then in June and July on the all-star Festival Express tour through
Canada. Janis's last public performance, with Full Tilt Boogie, was on August
12th 1970 at the Harvard Stadium in Boston, Massachusetts. Prior to this they
had recorded enough in the studios for an album, the result was the posthumously
released "Pearl". It became the biggest selling album of her career
and featured her biggest hit single, a cover of Kris Kristofferson's "Me
and Bobby McGee". Kristofferson had been Joplin's lover not long before her
death. Janis lived fast and died young, an American icon and souvenir of the 1960s
(Tragically died at the Landmark Hotel, Hollywood, after
an accidental heroin overdose) b.
January 19th 1943.1982:
Glenn Gould (50)Canadian
pianist, composer and
winner of 4 grammys, who
became one of the best-known and most celebrated classical pianists of the 20
century. He was renowned as an interpreter of the keyboard music of Johann Sebastian
Bach. His playing was distinguished by a remarkable technical proficiency and
a capacity to articulate the polyphonic texture of Bachs music.
Glenn rejected most of the standard Romantic piano literature and shunned the
music of several of its composers, notably Franz Liszt, Robert Schumann, and Frédéric
Chopin. In 1982 he was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame.(?)b.
September 25th 1932.1990: Alyn Ainsworth
(66) English singer and dance band conductor born in Bolton. At the
age of 14, Herman Darewski recognised
his talent and signed him up to tour
with his dance band. When his voice broke he learnt the guitar and soon joined
Oscar Rabin's orchestra where he played in the band and did musical arrangements,
they also broadcast on the radio. Alyn turned down an offer from Val Parnell to
conduct the London Palladium Orchestra and chose in 1951 to join the BBC Northern
Variety Orchestra, first as arranger, then as conductor. In the early 60s he was
signed up by Granada TV as presenter of "Spot the Tune". In 1965 he
conducted the orchestra at the Royal Command Performance at the London Palladium
for the third time.
He was also the musical director for the BBC's anniversary programme Fifty Years
Of Music broadcast in 1972 and he conducted
in the Eurovision Song Contest five times, '75, '76, '77 for Belgium, 1978 and
1990. (?)b. August
24th 1924.1991:
J.
Frank Wilson (49)American
lead singer of J. Frank Wilson and the Cavaliers; born in Lufkin,
Texas, he joined the Cavaliers after his discharge from Goodfellow Air Force Base
in San Angelo, Texas in 1962. Their
first chart hit was "Last Kiss" b/s "That's How Much I Love You",
became a hit in June of 1964, it reached No.2 on the Billboard Hot 100, sold over
one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc. They charted with only one other
song, "Hey, Little One". J.Frank with or without the Cavaliers, continued
to release records until 1978. While he continued to tour and play until his death
(died
of alcoholism)
b. December
11th 1941.1994:
Danny Gatton (49)American
guitarist; born in Washington DC; he began his career playing in bands while still
a teenager and began to attract wider interest in the 1970s while playing guitar
and banjo for the group Liz Meyer & Friends. He made his name as a performer
the 1980s, both as a solo performer and with his Redneck Jazz Explosion, in which
he would trade licks with virtuoso pedal steel player Buddy Emmons over a tight
bass-drums rhythm which drew from blues, country, bebop and rockabilly influences.
He also backed Robert Gordon and Roger Miller. He contributed a cover of "Apricot
Brandy", a song by supergroup Rhinoceros, to the 1990 compilation album Rubáiyát.
Danny was ranked 63rd on Rolling Stone magazine's 100 Greatest Guitarists of all
Time in 2003 and on May 26th, 2010, Gibson.com ranked him as the 27th best guitarist
of all time. (tragically
Danny suicide) b. September 4th 1945.1999: Arthur Stewart "Art" Farmer (71)American jazz trumpeter
and flugelhorn player,and also played flumpet, a trumpet-flugelhorn combination
designed for him by David Monette. Born in Council Bluffs, Iowa worked as a musician
from the mid-1940s onwards, based in LA, he played in the bands of Benny Carter
and Jay McShann among others. He
joined Lionel Hampton's orchestra around 1953, with fellow trumpeters Clifford
Brown and Quincy Jones. Later relocating to New York, he worked with Gigi Gryce,
Horace Silver, Gerry Mulligan, and George Russell, among others. He also formed
"The Jazztet" with the composer and tenor sax player Benny Golson. Art
moved to Europe, ultimately based in Vienna, where he performed with The Kenny
Clarke-Francy Boland Big Band, and also recorded extensively as a leader throughout
his later career. With Golson he revived 'The Jazztet' in the 1980s for a number
of engagements, with the original trombonist Curtis Fuller returning to the group
(?)
b. August
21st 1928.2005: Mike Gibbins (56)
Welsh lefty drummer; he was a founding member the Iveys, later renamed Badfinger,
after "Badfinger Boogie", an unused title for a Lennon-McCartney composition.
He helped form The Iveys in 1965 and his powerful playing helped push the Iveys
to a new level of proficiency and by the end of the year the group was being booked
as an opening act for local appearances by the likes of the Who, the Yardbirds,
the Moody Blues, and the Spencer Davis Group and was a popular attraction on the
London club scene. They signed with Apple and changed their name to Badfinger,
and broke through to the British and American Top Ten with the Paul McCartney-composed
"Come and Get It." The group followed this up in 1970 with their LP
masterpiece No Dice, scoring a hit with the now pop classic "No Matter What"
which featured the ballad "Without You". Mike and the band backed George
Harrison's solo masterpiece "All Things Must Pass", and also serving
as the backing unit at George's Concert for Bangladesh. He was one of two members
of the group left behind following a pair of tragic suicides, and he led reorganized
versions of "Badfinger" into the 1980s and beyond. (died
in his sleep at home in Florida)b.
March 12th 1949.2008:
Al Gallogoro (95)American
jazz clarinetist and saxophonist, born to a Chicago, but moved to Birmingham,
Alabama when he was five years old.
He made his first stage appearance at Birmingham's Lyric Theatre in 1926. After
six years of playing nightclubs, speakeasies and vaudeville shows at the Orpheum
Theater, Al moved to New York City and worked in radio bands. In 1933 he briefly
joined Isham Jones' big band, making one record session with it. In 1936 he was
hired to play lead alto saxophone in Paul Whiteman's orchestra, among the most
popular performing groups of the era. After that group disbanded in 1940 he was
hired to play bass clarinet in the NBC Symphony Orchestra under Arturo Toscanini.
Among his credits is the famed opening clarinet glissando from the 1945 Warner
Brothers film "Rhapsody in Blue", Al performed that particular piece
over 10,000 times in his career. In 1947 his former bandleader invited him to
join him as a live performer on New York's WJZ radio station. Al contributed countless
saxophone solos to that station's programs over two decades and continued to do
live radio work throughout his life.Bandleader
Jimmy Dorsey praised him as "the best sax player who ever lived" (?)
b. June 20th 1913. 2009:
Mercedes Sosa (74)Argentinian folk singer;
born in San Miguel de Tucumán, in northwestern Argentina, her roots were
in Argentine folk music, she became one of the preeminent exponents of nueva canción.
Mercedes became known as La Negra by her fans for her long, jet-black hair, and
was best known as the voice of the "voiceless ones". In a career spanning
nearly six decades, as well as working in South America, she toured in both the
US and Europe and released 70 albums from "La Voz de la Zafra" in 1959,
"Canciones con Fundamento" in 1965 and Yo No Canto Por Cantar in 1966,
to the release of Éxitos Eternos in 2005, La Historia del Folklore in 2007,
Cantora 1 and Cantora 2 both in 2009 (Mercedes
died from an aggravation of her preexisting kidney disease)
b. July 9th 1935.2010:
Alberto Alves da Silva (89)Brazilian
artist and musician, considered the father of samba de São Paulo, and founder
of the samba school and most successful carnival in São Paulo, the Nene
da Vila Matilde.He
founded the blue and white of the Eastern Zone in 1949. The school grew and became
a reference community, winning eleven championships. In 2010, Nene da Vila Matilde
was champion of the Access Group and in 2011 returns to the elite of São
Paulo carnival. (respiratory
failure)b.19212013: Akira Miyoshi (80) Japanese
composer, born in Suginami, Tokyo. He was a child prodigy on the piano, studying
with Kozaburo Hirai and Tomojiro Ikenouchi. He studied French literature at the
University of Tokyo, and then at the Paris Conservatory with Henri Challan and
Raymond Gallois-Montbrun from 1955 to 1957. He returned to Japan in 1957 and continued
studying French, graduating in 1960. In 1965, he became a professor at the Toho
Gakuen School of Music. He was the recipient of the 31st Suntory Music Award in
1999 and won four Otaka prizes for his compositions (sadly
Akira died from heart failure) b. January 10th 19332014:
Gholamali Pouratayi (73)Iranian Mugham singer
and dotar player, in Mahmoud Abad, Torbat-e Jam, Iran; his popular songs include
"Something, Something".(?) b. 1941.2014: Konrad Boehmer (73)German-born
Dutch composer and writer, born in Berlin. His music reflects his Marxist political
agenda, which is made explicit in many of his writings from the late 1960s and
1970s. He studied composition in Cologne, and philosophy, sociology, and musicology
at University of Cologne, where he received a PhD in 1966, after which he settled
in Amsterdam, working until 1968 at the Institute for Sonology, Utrecht University.
His compositions characteristically employ serial organization or montage, sometimes
with elements of jazz and rock music. In 2001 the Holland Festival commissioned
him to write a composition for the rock band Sonic Youth, which they performed
at both concerts during that festival in the Stadsschouwburg Amsterdam (Sanders
2001). It was the band in its 'Goodbye 20th Century' period.(sadly
Konrad died from the effects of a stroke) b. May 24th 1941. 2014:
Paul Revere/Paul Revere Dick (76)American
organist-vocalist, born Paul Revere Dick in Harvard, Nebraska, and grew up in
Boise, Idaho. In his early 20s, he owned several burger restaurants in Caldwell,
but in 1958 at the age of 20, he also formed a group called The Downbeats; it
was an instrumental band before he recruited singer Mark Lindsay, then changed
the name to Paul Revere & The Raiders in 1960. They got their brake in 1963
with a cover of "Louie, Louie", after which, they scored 4 Top Ten singles
in the 60s with "Kicks," "Hungry," "Good Thing"
and "Him or Me, What's It Gonna Be". Their best hit came in '71 with
"Indian Reservation (The Lament of the Cherokee Reservation Indian)"...
>>>READ
MORE<<<(Paul had been battling
cancer over the past year)b.
born January 7th 19382015:
Dave Pike (77)American
jazz vibraphone, marimba player and musical pioneer, born in Detroit, Michigan.
He learned drums at the age of eight and is self-taught on vibes. He made his
recording debut with the Paul Bley Quartet in 1958. He began putting an amplifier
on his vibes when working with flautist Herbie Mann in the early 1960s. By the
late 1960s, his music became more exploratory, contributing a unique voice and
new contexts that pushed the envelope in times remembered for their exploratory
nature. He appears on many Herbie Mann albums as well as those by Bill Evans,
Nick Brignola, Paul Bley and with Kenny Clarke while living in Germany. Dave has
also recorded extensively as leader, including a number of albums on MPS Records.
He resettled in Los Angeles, California, playing locally and recording for Timeless
and Criss Cross. (sadly Dave
died with emphysema) b. March 23rd 1938.2016:
Caroline Crawley (52) English singer; she was co-founder Shelleyan
Orphan alongside guitarist Jemaur Tayle. Caroline was the lead vocalist in the
band, that went on to release four albums, Helleborine-1987, Century Flower-1989,
Humroot-1992 and We Have Everything We Need in 2008. In
1991, she was approached by 4AD Records founder Ivo Watts-Russell who asked her
to appear on four tracks of This Mortal Coil's album Blood. She was permitted
to do her own interpretations of the tracks, and appeared in the video for the
Syd Barrett cover, "Late Night". Caroline was also part of Babacar particularly
in their self-titled album Babacar; "Midsummer" became a single for
the band (sadly died after a long illness)
b. August 8th 1963.2016:
Donald H. White (95)American composer born in Narberth, Pennsylvania;
he studied Music Education at Temple University in Philadelphia and composition
with Persichetti at the Philadelphia Conservatory of Music and at the Eastman
School of Music. In 1947 he joined the faculty of DePauw University in Greencastle,
Indiana where he was chairman of composition and theory studies from 1948 to 81.
He was the director of the school of music at Depauw from 1974-1978. He
became the chairman of the music department at Central Washington University in
Ellensburg, Washington in 1980. His notable compositions
were his Euphonium Suite, Trombone Sonata, and Tetra Ergon, for bass Trombone.
(?)b. February 28th 1921.

October 5th.1940:
Silvestre Revueltas Sánchez (40)Mexican
composer, violinist and conductor; born in Santiago Papasquiaro in Durango, he
studied at the National Conservatory in Mexico City, St. Edward's University in
Austin, TX and the Chicago College of Music. In 1929 became assistant conductor
of the National Symphony Orchestra of Mexico, a post he held until 1935. He did
much to promote contemporary Mexican music. He wrote film music, chamber music,
songs and a number of other works. Among his orchestral music are a number of
symphonic poems with Sensemayá: Chant for the Killing of a Snake-1938,
based on a poem by Nicolás Guillén. He appeared briefly as a bar
piano player in the movie ¡Vámonos con Pancho Villa! in 1935, for
which he composed the music. When shooting breaks out in the bar while he is playing
"La cucaracha", he holds up a sign reading "Se suplica no tirarle
al pianista" (Please don't shoot at the piano player!). He went to Spain
and worked for the Republicans during the Spanish Civil War, but upon Francisco
Franco's victory, returned to Mexico to teach. He earned little, and sadly fell
into poverty and alcoholism (He
died of pneumonia in Mexico City on the day his ballet El renacuajo paseador,
written 4 years earlier, premièred)b.
December 31st 1899.1961: Booker
Little Jr (23) American jazz trumpeter and composer born in Memphis,
he studied at the Chicago Conservatory from 1956-58 and worked with leading local
musicians such as Johnny Griffin. He then moved to New York where he met up with
drummer Max Roach and multi-instrumentalist Eric Dolphy. From '58 to '61 he recorded
four albums with Max Roach and two albums with
Eric Dolphyin '60 and '61. He also
recorded with the John Coltrane Quartet, Frank Strozier, and Abbey Lincoln as
well as four albums as a leader of his Booker Little Quartet. Booker is considered
to be one of the first trumpet players to develop his own sound after Clifford
Brown. (Sadly
he died prematurely of complications resulting from uremia, kidney failure) b.
April 2nd 1938.
1981: Jud Strunk/Justin Strunk Jr (45)American
singer-songwriter and comedian; he learnt to play the banjo as a boy and began
entertaining locals. He went on to to appear on national TV network shows such
as Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In and Johnny
Carson's The Tonight
Show. In
1973, he wrote and recorded the song "A Daisy a Day," which made the
Billboard Top 20 on both the country and pop music charts. He also wrote and recorded
three humorous songs that made it into the country music charts, one of which
continues to be played on the Dr. Demento show, is "The Biggest Parakeets
in Town". He also toured with the Andy Williams Road Show (Jud
was a private pilot and owned a 1941 Fairchild M62-A. Tragically, he suffered
a heart attack while taking off in the aircraft at the Carrabassett Valley Airport
in Maine and was killed instantly along with his passenger, local businessman
Dick Ayotte)b. June 11 19361985:
Brian Keenan (42) American drummer
born in New York; as a child, he also lived in Conisbrough, Yorkshire, UK, and
in Ireland. In the early 60s he did a short stint with Manfred Mann, the musician.
Back in the USA, in 1965, Brian joined The Chambers Brothers a soul-music group,
soon after they got their big break when they appeared at the Newport Folk Festival,
after which they recorded their debut album People Get Ready. The band scored
their first major hit in 1968 with the well noted 11-minute long song "Time
Has Come Today". Brian left the band in 1971, to form his own band, The Losers,
which became the house band at Ondine, the first discotheque in New York City.
Brian went on to start up his own recording studio in Connecticut
(sadly died of a fatal heart attack) b. January 28th
1943. note: Manfred Mann, the
musician, came to UK in 1961. He met drummer Mike Hugg, at Clacton Butlins Holiday
Camp, in '62 and together they formed a blues jazz band called the Mann Hugg Blues
Brothers, which evolved into Manfred Mann. Mike Hugg has always drummed with Manfred
since 1962. Brian must have drummed with Manfred when he first relocated to Britain
from South Africa...Any Help Welcome?? 1986: Emanuel
"Manny" Sayles (79)
American jazz banjoist and guitarist, he played
violin and viola as a child in Florida, then taught himself banjo and guitar.
Relocating to New Orleans he joined William Ridgely's Tuxedo Orchestra, after
which he worked with Fate Marable, Armand Piron, and Sidney Desvigne on riverboats
up and down the Mississippi River. In 1929 he participated in recordings with
the Jones-Collins Astoria Hot Eight. 1933 sees Manny in Chicago with his own band;
playing in the house band at the Jazz Ltd Club and recording with Roosevelt Sykes
and others.Over
the years he played with many including Sweet Emma Barrett, Punch Miller, the
Preservation Hall Jazz Band, he played and toured japan with George Lewis, and
also recorded with the likes of Peter Bocage, Kid Thomas Valentine, Earl Hines,
and Louis Cottrell, Jr. He recorded as a leader in the 1960s for GHB, Nobility,
Dixie, and Big Lou (?)
b. January 31st 1907. 1992: Eddie Kendricks (52) American singer and
songwriter, noted for his distinctive falsetto singing style. Born in Union Springs,
Alabama, he helped form a doo-wop group called The Cavaliers, and began performing
around Birmingham. The group decided to move for better opportunities and in 1957
the group moved to Cleveland, Ohio. In Cleveland, they met manager Milton Jenkins,
and soon moved with Jenkins to Detroit, Michigan, where the Cavaliers renamed
themselves 'The Primes'. They went on to become Motown's singing group The Temptations,
Eddie was one of their lead singers until 1971. His was the lead voice on such
famous songs as "The Way You Do The Things You Do", "Get Ready",
and "Just My Imagination". As a solo artist, Eddie recorded several
hits of his own during the 1970s, including the number-one single "Keep On
Truckin'" (sadly lost his battle with lung cancer)b. December 17th 1939.1995: Marcel Neville King (38) English
singer born in Manchester, he was the youngest member of "The Sweet Sensation",
a band formed in Manchester in 1973 which came to notice after appearing on the
ITV talent show New Faces. Under the guidance Tony Hatch the band signed to Pye
Records. Their second single release "Sad Sweet Dreamer" was a UK No.1
hit in October 1974, also reaching No.14 on the Billboard Hot 100 the following
spring. Their follow up "Purely by Coincidence" reached No.11 in the
UK singles chart in January 1975. In 1977 they entered into A Song For Europe
in an attempt to represent the United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest.
Their song "You're My Sweet Sensation" ended in 8th place. Marcel launched
a solo career in 1985 recording the single "Reach for Love" in 1991.
(cerebral haemorrhage) b. January
4th 19582001:
Fereydoon Foroughi (50)Iranian
singer, actor born in Tehran. He contributed greatly to Iranian music and arts
and his unique voice and style soon caught on with the people. He started his
professional work in 1971 with the film "Adamak" by Khosrow Haritash.
His style was inspired by jazz and blues and as a singer, he is best known for
his songs "Need or Niyaaz in Persian" and "My Grade Schoolmate
or Yar'e Dabestani'e Man in Persian". In addition to his studies in acting,
playing the guitar, piano and organ he also composed music.
(?)
b. January 29th 1951.2004:
Rodney Dangerfield/Jacob Cohen (82)American comedian and actor,
best known for the catchphrases "I don't get no respect" or "I
get no respect" and his monologues on that theme. He wrote songs for the
cartoon "Rover Dangerfield", appeared on TV's Johnny Carson's Tonight
Show over 70 times and was in the movies Natural Born Killers and Caddyshack.
His album, No Respect, won a Grammy Award. One of his TV specials featured a musical
number, "Rappin' Rodney, soon became one of the first MTV music videos
(He underwent surgery Aug 25th 2004 to replace a heart valve.
He later fell into a coma and tragically never recovered)
b. November 22nd 1921.2006: Jennifer Victoria "Jenny"
Moss (61) English actress and singer born in
Wigan, Lancashire. She was best known for her role as Lucille Hewitt on the long-running
soap opera, Coronation Street, which she played from 1960-74.In 1961,
during the Equity strike, Jenny used her freedom away from the Street to concentrate
on other projects. She appeared in a West End musical, and made her debut on the
big screen when she co-starred with David Hemmings, Veronica Hurst, John Pike
and Joan Newell in the beat film Live It Up! in 1963, singing "Please Let
It Happen To Me". Her debut single Hobbies, produced by Joe Meek failed to
make the UK top 40 and her music career fizzled. She recorded a number of other
songs which remained unreleased until 2007, when a CD compilation album Let's
Go With Joe Meek's Girls was released (?)
b. January 10th 1945. 2009: Mike Alexander (32)British bassist
born in London; in 2000, he joined Ben Carter and Matt Drake in a metal covers
band, before they formed the band Evile in 2004, recording an EP "All Hallows
Eve" the same year and a demo "Hell Demo" in '06. The band released
their debut album, "Enter the Grave" worldwide '07. Mike, who endorsed
Hartke amplifiers and cabinets and Dunlop bass strings, and Evile had released
their second album Infected Nations, earlier in, 2009(tragically
died from a pulmonary embolism, a blood clot on the lungs, while in Sweden during
a European tour in support of their new album) b.
June 22nd 1977.2010: Steve Lee (47)Swiss singer; he rose to fame in the 1990s with the Swiss rock band
Gotthard of which he was a founder member, frontman, and lead singer. Their
last 11 albums all charted at No.1.
Their chart success in their native Switzerland made Gotthard one of the country's
most successful bands of all time. They recently toured with Whitesnake and played
at Arrow Rock Festival in Holland (tragically Steve was
killed in a motorcycle accident in Mesquite, Nevada, when a truck hit five parked
motorcycles) b. August 5th 1963. 2010: William Shakespeare/John
Cabe/Billy Shake/John Cave
(61) Australian glam rock singer, born in Sydney,
and was vocalist for beat group, The Amazons. In 1966, they released a single,
"Ain't that Lovin' You Baby". After The Amazons, he continued performing
in Sydney clubs as Johnny Cabe. In early 1974, he was in Albert Studios where
noted Australian producers-songwriters Vanda & Young were recording "Can't
Stop Myself from Loving You" for another singer who was unable to reach its
high notes. Johns's falsetto voice was suitable so V&W signed him to Albert
Productions and groomed him into the glam
rocker William Shakespeare along
the lines of Alvin Stardust or Gary Glitter. "Can't Stop Myself from Loving
You" was released as a single in July and peaked at No.2. This was followed
in 1974 by his debut album of the same name, and a 2nd single "My Little
Angel" which topped the charts in 1975. "Just the Way You Are"
and "Last Night" were his last chart hits in 1976. His career was shattered
when he was convicted of carnal knowledge with a 15-year-old fan. In 1978, Shakespeare,
who had an alcohol addiction and clinical depression, was treated with Deep Sleep
Therapy. The early 80s saw him in smaller gigs as Billy Shake. Sadly he was still
on the alcoholic slide (sadly died of a heart attack)b.1948.2011: Bert Jansch (67)Scottish folk guitarist,
singer and songwriter born in Glasgow and came to prominence in London in the
1960s, as an acoustic guitarist, as well as a singer-songwriter. He was a leading
figure in the British folk music revival of the 1960s, and toured extensively
starting in the 1960s and continuing into the 21st century. Bert recorded several
solo albums, before becoming a founding member of popular folk-rock band Pentangle
in 1968, touring and recording with them until their break-up in 1972 and also
during the 80s and early 90s after their reformation. His work influenced such
artists as Paul Simon, Johnny Marr, Neil Young, Bernard
Butler, Jimmy Page, Nick Drake, Graham Coxon, Donovan, Fleet Foxes and Devendra
Banhart. He has received two Lifetime Achievement Awards at the BBC Folk Awards:
one, in 2001, for his solo achievements and the other, in 2007, as a member of
Pentangle. In 2009 he was diagnosed with lung cancer, but after treatment went
on to perform a two-month, co-headlining US tour with Neil Young in 2010(sadly
died while bravely fighting cancer)b.
November 3rd 1943.2012: Edvard Mirzoyan (91) Armenian composer,
born in Gori, Georgia. Initially schooled in music in Yerevan and graduated from
the Komitas State Conservatory, Mirzoyan went on to Moscow to further refine his
art. In late 1956 he was elected president of the Armenian Composers Union,
a position he held until 1991. He was professor of composition at the Komitas
State Conservatory, and president of the Peace Foundation. His compositional output
was small but quite distinguished, combining graceful lyricism with intense drama.
With its formal structure and tonal design, his style has been described as Neoclassical,
with elements of Armenian folksong always present. Mirzoyans String Quartet,
Cello Sonata, Symphony for Strings and Timpani, and Epitaph for String Orchestra
have become notable additions to the international music repertoire(?)b. May 12th 1921.2013:
Butch Warren/Edward Warren (74)American jazz double bassist; he began playing professionally at age
14 in a local Washington, D.C. band led by his father, Edward. He worked with
other local groups, including bandleader Rick Henderson at the historic Howard
Theater on 7th and T Streets. In
1958, he moved to New York City to play with Kenny Dorham. His
solos were inventive, occasionally using the bow. Butch is better known as a sideman
on many albums, including Dexter Gordon's "Go", Jackie McLean's "Vertigo"
and "Hipnosis", and many recordings with Thelonious Monk. His most memorable
contribution was on Herbie Hancock's "Watermelon Man", on Hancock's
debut album, Takin' Off. He can also be heard on recordings with Miles Davis,
Hank Mobley, Stanley Turrentine, Elmo Hope, Donald Byrd, Sonny Clark, Kenny Dorham,
Joe Henderson, Horace Parlan, Jackie McLean, Grant Green, Bobby Timmons Stanley
Turrentine and others.(sadly
Butch died fighting cancer) b. August 9th 19392016:
Joan Marie Johnson Faust (72) American singer and founding member of
The Dixie Cups, a pop music girl group formed in New Orleans, Louisiana, in 1963.
They first competed in the talent show but as the Mel-Tones, before thier name
change to Little Miss and the Muffets and then to the Dixie Cups. Their debut
single "Chapel of Love", a song that Phil Spector, Jeff Barry and Ellie
Greenwich had originally written for The Ronettes, became their biggest hit reaching
No.1 on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart in June 1964 and No.22 on the UK singles chart.
"Chapel of Love" sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold
disc and was followed by a string of hits including "People Say", "You
Should Have Seen The Way He Looked At Me", and "Iko Iko". Joan
became a Jehovah's Witness in the 70s, she left the group, replaced by Beveley
Brown, and she gave up her music career (sadly died from
heart failure)b. January 15th 1944. 2016:
Pompeiu Harasteanu (81) Romanian opera singer; a Graduate of the Ciprian
Porumbescu Conservatory, Bucharest. He sang as a soloist for the Opera Bonn, Germany,
between 1968 and 1972 and sang as a soloist of the National Opera in Bucharest
since 1972. He was known for his low powerful voice and for opera roles such Osmin
in Mozart's Die Entführung aus dem Serail and Sarastro in Die Zauberflöte.
()b. 14 September 1935.2016:
Rod Temperton (66) English songwriter, record producer and musician,
born in Cleethorpes. He played in several local bands, before making his mark
as the keyboardist and main songwriter for the R&B funk/disco band Heatwave
before writing several internationally known songs performed by Michael Jackson,
including mega-hit "Thriller" as well as "Off the Wall", "Rock
with You". In 1979, Rod he had been recruited by Quincy Jones to write for
what became Michael Jackson's first solo album in four years. Other of the 100s
of songs he wrote or cowrote include "Boogie Nights", "Always and
Forever", "The Groove Line" and others for Heatwave; The Brothers
Johnson's "Stomp!", "Light Up the Night", "You Make Me
Wanna Wiggle", "Treasure", "Closer to the One That You Love",
"All About the Heaven", and "Celebrations"; "Love x Love",
"Turn Out the Lamplight", and "Give Me the Night" and "Family
Reunion" for George Bensons;"Lite Me Up!" "The Bomb"
"Gettin' to the Good Part" "The Fun Tracks" "Motor Mouth"
and "Give It All Your Heart" for Herbie Hancock are just a few. (sadly
died fighting cancer) b. October 9th 1949.

October
6th. 1762: Francesco Manfredini (78)Italian Baroque composer, violinist, and church musician
born in Pistoia and studied violin with Giuseppe Torelli in Bologna. He became
musical director at St. Philip's Cathedral in his home town of Pistoia. Much of
his music is presumed to have been destroyed after his death; only 43 published
works and a handful of manuscripts are left (?)b.
June 22nd 1684.1947:
Leevi Antti Madetoja (60) Finnish
composer, born
in Oulu, he studied music in Helsinki, Paris, Vienna and Berlin, his music is
strongly influenced by the traditional music of his home region. His three symphonies
are based on the legacy of Sibelian and Russian romanticism, Gallic clarity and
folk elements. The sombre Symphony Nº 2 was written during the civil war
and could be described as a war symphony. Another fine work written in the same
year is the elegant piano piece Kuoleman Puutarha (Garden of Death), dedicated
to his brother, who had died during the war. His finest works are considered the
opera The Ostrobothnians, the Third Symphony, Comedy Overture, the ballet Okon
Fuoko, and his songs for male choir. (sadly died of from
exhaustion, overwork and heart disease)b. February
17th 18871978:
Johnny O'Keefe (43)Australian
pioneering rock and roll singer of
the 1950s, 60s and 170s. He had his own one-hour live TV show "Six O'Clock
Rock", featuring many local artists. Born in the eastern Sydney suburb of
Bondi Junction, in September 1956 Johnny and his friend Dave Owen, a US-born tenor
sax player formed Australia's first rock'n'roll band, The Dee Jays.He also became the first Australian pop star to chart, with
his third release, "I'm the Wild One." which was covered in '87 by Iggy
Pop as "Real Wild Child". He was also the first Australian rock 'n'
roll performer to tour the US. In his 20 career, he released over 50 singles,
50 EP's and 100 albums. Johnny's last public appearance was on Seven Network's
Sounds program, taped on 30 September 1978. (Tragically he died from a
heart attack induced by an accidental overdose of prescribed drugs)b.
January 19th 1935.1985:
Nelson Riddle (64)American
bandleader, arranger and orchestrator whose long career spanned from the 1940s
until the 1980s, He began taking piano lessons at the age of eight and trombone
lessons at aged fourteen. After his graduation from Ridgewood High School, he
spent his late teens and early 20s playing trombone in and occasionally arranging
for various local dance bands, culminating in his association with the Charlie
Spivak Orchestra. In 1943, he joined the Merchant Marine, serving at Sheepshead
Bay in Brooklyn, New York for roughly two years. During this time he continued
working for the Charlie Spivak Orchestra and he studyed orchestration under his
fellow merchant marine, composer Alan Shulman. After his enlistment term ended,
Nelson travelled to Chicago to join the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra in 1944; he remained
the orchestra's third trombone for eleven months until drafted by the United States
Army in April, 1945.In
1946 he moved to Hollywood to pursue his career as an arranger. For several years
he wrote arrangements for multiple radio and record projects. He went on to form
his own orchestra providing
jazzy big-band style arrangements to accompany such as Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin,
Nat King Cole, Judy Garland, Peggy Lee, Ella Fitzgerald, Shirley Bassey, Matt
Monro, Linda Ronstadt and many others. (liver
ailments)b. June 1st 1921. 1999:
Amália da Piedade Rodrigues (79)Portuguese
singer, actress. She was known as the "Queen of Fado" and was most influential
in introducing fado to the world outside of Portugal. She was unquestionably the
most important figure in the genres development. Her first professional
engagement in a fado venue took place in 1939, and her popularity extend with
trips to Spain, and lengthy stay in Brazil where, in 1945, she made her first
recordings on Brazilian label Continental, her career explored with world tours,
film and TV appearances. By 1962 she concentrated on recording and performing
live at a slower pace. During the 1970s, Amália
embarked
upon a heavy schedule of worldwide concert performances. Her 1977 album Cantigas
numa Língua Antiga was received as a triumph and the '80s and '90s brought
her enthronement as a living legend (died in her home at
Lisbon, Rua de São Bento which is now a museum. Portugal's government declared
a period of national mourning)b. July 23rd 1920.
Note: Despite official documents which give
her date of birth as July 23rd, Amália Rodrigues always said her birthday
was July 1st 1920.2006:
Claude Luter (83)
French jazz and dixieland clarinet player, and a soprano saxophonist, born in
Paris. He started out on the trumpeter before switching
to clarinet. After discovering New Orleans jazz in his teens, he began playing
private parties and clubs during the Nazi occupation, and post-liberation, Claude
emerged as a fixture at the Lorientais, one of the Latin Quarter's premier nightspots.
He recorded with many of the visiting American jazz musicians including Willie
"The Lion" Smith, Rex Stewart, and Buck Clayton, but maybe best known
for being an accompanist to the great Sidney Bechet when he was in Paris. In 1960
Claude paired with fellow clarinetist Barney Bigard before forming his own band,
which he continued to lead for the remainder of his life. In 1970 he went to LA
to participate in events celebrating Louis Armstrong's 70th birthday and in 1997
flying to New Orleans to honor Bechet. (sadly he died from
complications after a fall) b. July 23rd 1923.2010: Colette Renard (86)French singer and actress, born in Ermont. After studying cello, she became
secretary, then a singer in the Raymond Legrand's band.
Colette is probably the last popular singer inspired by postwar realists. She
also recorded several albums of bawdy songs, the most famous is probably Nights
of a Lady. Colette has starred in several films including A King Without Entertainment
and IP5 (sadly died after a long illness)
b. November 1st 1924. 2012: Nick Curran (35)
American blues/rock & roll singer-guitarist, born in Biddeford;
he began his professional career at 19, leaving Maine to tour with Ronnie Dawson,
The Blonde Bomber,
before moving to Dallas where he joined the
Jaguars, Kim
Lenz's backing band. From 2004-07
Nick played with The Fabulous Thunderbirds appearing on their 2005 recording,
Painted On. Also during that time, he and bassist Ronnie James started the punk
band Deguello. As a solo artist Nick performed four songs in a scene in the 2008
HBO Series, True Blood, based on The Southern Vampire Mysteries. 2008, also saw
Nick form the rock n roll roots band, The Lowlifes, as well as playing
in the Austin-based punk/rock n roll band The Flash Boys (sadly
Nick died fighting cancer)
b. September 30th 1977.2013: Senén Suárez
(91)Cuban guitarist born in the province of
Matanzas where as a teenager he joined the Valladares
Brothers Orchestra. In the 40s he moved
to Havana where he won a first prize in the radio program "The Supreme Court
of Art" and joined the popular Colonial Set with singer
Nelo Sosa and pianist Carlos Faxas;
they recorded 20 songs for the label PANART. In the late 50s he formed the Senen
Suarez Combo and accompanied artists like La Lupe and Paulina Alvarez. He took
Cuban music to countries like Canada, Indonesia, Angola, USSR, Nicaragua, Granada
and Guinea.
Senén
composed over a hundred works of genres
like Guaracha, the are, the bolero and rumba. His works have been performed by
international artists such as Celia Cruz, Benny More, Laito Sureda, Oscar de Leon,
La Orquesta Aragon, Orishas and La Sonora Matancera among others.
In 1997 he wrote the book "The Roots of Son", research paper on the
history of Habanero Septet with this collection of the bulk of his discography(?) b. July
30th 1922.2013: Will Ogdon (92)American
composer and academic
born in Redlands, California and studied composition with Ernst Krenek, Roger
Sessions and René Leibowitz at Indiana University.
He taught at the University of California, San Diego beginning in 1966 until he
retired in 1991. He also held faculty positions at the University of Texas at
Austin, the St. Catherine University in Minnesota and Illinois Wesleyan University.
Following his retirement in 1991, Will
continued to compose and wrote his last piece in 2008, which was premiered at
UC San Diego by Négyesy and violinist Päivikki Nykter. He has collaborated
with the singer Carol Plantamura (?)
b. April 19th 1921.2014: Andrew Kerr (80)British festival organizer;
in June 1971, he staged "Glastonbury Fayre", along with Arabella Churchill,
following Michael Eavis' first Pilton Pop Festival of September '70, helping establish
it as the UK's foremost music festival. Glastonbury Fayre originated the June
date, and the pyramid stage, inspired by the work of author John Michell. The
position of the stage was dowsed by Andrew according with his belief in ley lines
and to catch the midsummer sunrise, also the 'Glastonbury' part of the festival's
name was introduced. After organizing the first Fair, he continued to manage the
Glastonbury Festival site until the mid 1980s when he left Pilton. On his return
he helped with the festival from the early 2000s until his death. To mark the
40th anniversary of the Glastonbury Fayre, at the 2011 Glastonbury Festival he
organized a 'Spirit of 71' stage, with a number of the original performers. 'Spirit
of 71' was also incorporated into the 2013 festival. Kerr's autobiography Intolerably
Hip: The memoirs of Andrew Kerr was published in May 2011(?)
b. November 29th 19332015: Stasys Povilaitis (68)Lithuanian musician, singer and poet, born in Kaunas where
he learned to play the violin and oboe and played in local ensembles. From 1965
to 1975 he studied journalism in Vilnius University and was spotted by composer
Mikas Maitkevicius who invited him to join the band Ritmas. In 1970 he was a member
of philharmonic ensemble Nemuno iburiai which toured across the Soviet Union.
In 1973 he joined ensemble Nerija and soon became widely popular. In 1984-1987
he performed together with a variety bands and orchestras. From 1987 he performed
with Tonas and as a solo artist in Lithuania and abroad. Throughout his career
Stasys recorded dozens of albums and in 1967 he was the laureate of the Baltic
states' competition Liepaja Amber held in Latvia; in 1968 received Vilnius Boktai
diploma; in 1970 was the laureate of the competition the Polish Song. In '91 was
awarded the Antanas abaniauskas Prize; in 1997, the Bravo prize for accomplishments
in music. In 1997 Stasys was bestowed the 5th degree Order of the Lithuanian Grand
Duke Gediminas; in 2007 he was awarded the Government Prize for Culture and Arts;
and in 2013, the medal For Merit to Vilnius and the Nation.(sadly
died after a long illness) b. January 15th 1947.2015:
Billy Joe Royal (73)American pop and country
singer, born in Valdosta, GA, and raised in Marietta, GA; he became a local star
at the Bamboo Ranch in Savannah in the 1950s. He is best known for the 1965 US
Top 10 pop hit "Down in the Boondocks", which, along
with the singles "I Knew You When" and "Hush" and his 1969
single, "Cherry Hill Park", which peaked at No.15 on the Billboard Hot
100. In the 1970s his recording of "Heart's Desire" gained popularity
among Northern soul enthusiasts and was regularly played in Northern soul nightclubs.
During
the 1980s, he had a successful comeback with several Top 10 country hits, including
"Tell It Like It Is", "Burned Like a Rocket", and "I'll
Pin a Note on Your Pillow". Billy Joe 's career experienced a third major
period during the 2000s due to regular airplay on "oldies" radio stations
and through a movement known as The Beat Army, an online music forum based on
Facebook. He also played Robert Ally in the indie Western film Billy the Kid in
2013, co-starring country singer Cody McCarver.(Billy
Joe died peacefully in his sleep)
b. April 3rd 1942. 2015: Smokey Johnson/Joseph Johnson (78)American drummer born in New Orleans and went on
to become Fats Domino's drummer for more than 30 years. He helped invent the second
line beat and he
co-wrote "It Ain't My Fault", what's now a Mardi Gras brass band standard,
with Wardell Quezergue in 1964. Reviered
and a legend in New Orleans he was the drummer on many classic New Orleans rhythm
and blues recordings. Sadly Smokiy stopped playing drums after suffering a stroke
in 1993 and he was forced to leave his home in the wake of Hurricane Katrina in
September of 2005, after which he resided in a resident of Musicians' Village,
a Habitat for Humanity project in the Upper Ninth Ward of New Orleans. In 2010,
Preservation Hall Jazz Band creative director Ben Jaffe organized a new recording
of "It Ain't My Fault" as a response to the BP oil spill and to help
raise funds for Gulf relief. The new version featured Lenny Kravitz, Mos Def,
Troy "Trombone Shorty" Andrews, actor Tim Robbins and the Preservation
Hall Jazz Band.(sadly Smokey
died after a long illness) b. November 14th 1936.October 7th.1959:
Mario Lanza/Alfredo Arnold Cocozza (38) Legendary
American
tenor and Hollywood movie star who enjoyed success in 1940s and 1950s. His voice
was considered by some to rival that of Enrico Caruso, whom Lanza portrayed in
the 1951 film The Great Caruso. He was able to sing all types of music. His career
covered opera, radio, concerts, recordings, and motion pictures. He was the first
artist for RCA Victor Red Seal to receive a gold disc and the first artist to
sell two and half million albums. A highly influential artist, Mario has been
credited with inspiring successive generations of opera singers, including Plácido
Domingo, Luciano Pavarotti, Leo Nucci and José Carreras. (died
in Rome from a pulmonary embolism)b. January 31st
1921. 1966: Johnny Kidd/Frederick Heath (30)English
frontman and singer with Johnny Kidd & the Pirates; he had hit songs from
the late 1950s to the mid 1960s. Their first single was the raw "Please Don't
Touch", reaching No. 25 on the UK singles charts in 1959, this song has since
been covered many times, most successfully by Motörhead. His most famous
song as a composer was "Shakin' All Over" which was a No.1 UK hit in
1960. Kidd's own version didn't chart outside of Europe, but two cover versions
did: The Guess Who topped the Canadian charts and hit No.22 US with their 1965
version of "Shakin' All Over", and in Australia, Normie Rowe topped
the charts with it later the same year. It was also covered by The Who on the
classic Live at Leeds album and Iggy Pop covered it on his solo album "Avenue
B". Johnny and his band are remembered for appearing onstage in pirate costumes,
complete with eye-patches, he was one of the pre-Beatles British rock and rollers
to achieve worldwide fame (died in a car crash; near Radcliffe,
Manchester, while on tour)b. November 23rd 1935.Most sites have Johnny Kidd's DOB
as Dec 23rd 1939, the "1939" was for public popularity. His birthdate
according to his authorized
site his DOB is is November 23rd 1935.1966:
Smiley Lewis/Overton Amos Lemons (53) American R&B singer, in his
mid teens he ran off to New Orleans, where he began playing clubs in the French
Quarter and "Tan bars" in the 7th Ward, at times billed as Smiling Lewis,
a variation of the nickname earned by his lack of front teeth, and often accompanied
by pianist Isidore "Tuts" Washington, and he spent the mid-1930s with
in Thomas Jefferson's Dixieland band. When the band dissolved, Smiley turned to
going from one club to another, playing gigs for only tips. He went on to record
hits including, "Tee-Nah-Nah", "The Bells Are Ringing", "Blue
Monday", "(I Love You) For Sentimental Reasons", "I Hear You
Knocking", "One Night (Of Sin)", "Please Listen To Me",
"Shame, Shame, Shame", "The Bells Are Ringing" and "I
Hear You Knocking" of which many have been covered by the likes of Elvis
Presley, Dave Edmunds, Gale Storm, Fats Domino and many others. (sadly
lost his battle with stomach cancer) b. July 5th
1913.1988:
Bernard ''Bernie'' Cash (53) English jazz doube
bassist, trumpet player, saxophonist, fluist, piccolo, arranger, composer, born
in Scarborough, Yorkshire, and began his musical career as a trumpet player, gaining
a reputation playing with different bands around the UK. At the age of 25, he
decided to take up the double bass, and moved to London in 1961 where he became
involved in the jazz scene, and played with many musicians of note. Soon he returned
to Yorkshire, where he founded the Light Music Course at Leeds College of Music,
a course that is still running today. Among the many musicians he played with
include Ian Bell, Eric Silk, Bob Wallis, Pat Hawes, Bobby Mickleburgh, Bruce Turne,
Eggy Ley, Harry Gold, Diz Disley's Soho String Quintet, Dave Shepherd, Oscar Rabin,
Johnny Duncan, Charles Ernescoe, The Bryan Layton Trio, and his own The Bernie
Cash Band(?) b. January
18th 1935.2000:
Dennis Sandole (87)American jazz musician, he taught himself the guitar
at 19, and his older brother, Adolph, taught himself the baritone saxophone. They
began playing together in a neighborhood band in Philadelphia, and a decade later,
in the early 1940's, Dennis was playing guitar with some of the major swing-era
big bands, including those led by Charlie Barnet, Boyd Raeburn, Tommy Dorsey and
Ray McKinley. While on the West Coast in that period, he also recorded film soundtracks
and played at studio recording sessions, including several for Frank Sinatra and
Billie Holiday. In the mid-40's, he moved back to Philadelphia to write music
and teach at the Granoff Studios, he was John Coltrane's mentor from '46 until
the early 50's. His other students over half a century included the saxophonists
Rob Brown, James Moody, Michael Brecker, and Bobby Zankel; the pianists Matthew
Shipp and Sumi Tonooka; and the guitarists Jim Hall, Joe Diorio and Pat Martino
(died
in his Philadelphia home) b.
November 29th 1913. 2002: Pierangelo Bertoli (59) Italian singer-songwriter
and poet born in Sassuolo, at the age of 4 he suffered of poliomyelitis and sadly
he lost use of his legs. He started his career as a singer at the end of 1973
with the album Rosso colore dell'amore in 1974 and one year later with the self-produced
album Roca Blues. One of his most famous album was A muso duro of 1979. In 1990
he collaborates with Elio e le Storie Tese. In 1991 and 1992 he took part to the
Sanremo Music Festival. His last album, 301 Guerre Fa in 2002 was composed with
the collaboration of his son Alberto and Luciano Ligabue(Pierangelodied of a heart-attack due to a tumor) b. November
5th 1942.2009: Steve Ferguson (60)American guitarist, born in Louisville, KY, he first formed a group
called the Merseybeats with his high school friend, pianist Terry Adams, before
the two moved Miami, Florida, where the pair helped found the band NRBQ, short
for New Rhythm and Blues Quartet (originally Quintet), with singer Frank Gadler,
drummer Tom Staley and bassist Joey Spampinato in 1967. Soon they relocated to
the northeastern US, living in Park Slope, Brooklyn, where they gained attention
in local clubs. In the spring of 1969, NRBQ was the opening act for a 3-band program
at "The Fillmore East" with 2nd act Joe Cocker the headline act The
Jeff Beck Group, with lead singer Rod Stewart (Steve died
after a long battle with cancer)b. November 22nd
1948...read
more2010: Tex
Pistol/Ian Morris (53) New
Zealand multi-award winning guitarist, singer-songwriter,
record
producer,
and
recording
engineer;
he was a founder member of Th' Dudes, releasing their debut album in "Right
First Time" in 1979. This produced 3 singles "Be Mine Tonight"/"That
Look In Your Eyes"; "Walking In Light"; and
"Right First Time".
This was followed by 3 more albums. Ian also had hits as a solo artist under the
name Tex Pistol including "Nobody Else", "The Game of Love",
and "The Ballad of Buckskin Bob" / "Winter". His production
credits include DD Smash, The Screaming Meemees, the Warratahs, When the Cat's
Away, Greg Johnson and Dave Dobbyn. Ian also wrote numerous jingles
and arrangements,
and in 2006, he toured with a re-formed Th' Dudes on a New Zealand tour.
(he was found at his home in Napier on New Zealand's North Island. Police say
there were no suspicious circumstances) b. 1957.2013: Dick LaPalm/Ricardo LaPalombara (86)American
jazz and pop record promoter and
music producerknown
as the Jazz Lobbyist born in Chicago who was instrumental in gaining
radio airplay for artists such as with Nat
King Cole, Dorothy Ashby, Ahmad Jamal,
Buddy Rich, Woody Herman, Peggy Lee, Mel Torme, Sarah Vaughan, the Modern Jazz
Quartet, Dick Haymes, Count Basie and Sonny Rollins. In 2007 he published a list
of, in
his view, the most influential radio
jazz DJs(sadly died while
bravely fighting caner)b. June 23th 19272014: Lou Whitney (72) American
rock bassist and studio owner, from Missouri. As well as being bassist and past
member of The Original Symptoms, The Morells, and
The Skeletons, Mark also owned The
Studio, located in Springfield, Mo. for more than two decades. There, he produced,
engineered, or performed on dozens of recordings by artists including the Bottle
Rockets, Fulks, Wilco, Dave Alvin, the Del-Lords, Jonathan Richman, Eric Ambel,
Jay Farrar, Syd Straw, Blue Mountain, Rex Hobart, Dallas Wayne, Exene Cervenka,
Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin, among many others (after
bravely fighting bladder cancer, Lou
has sadly died
of kidney cancer) b. 1942 ?.2015:
Otis Ray "Killer" Appleton (74)American
jazz drummer, born in Indianapolis, Indiana; he first played in school bands,
but hearing Freddie Hubbard and James Spaulding got him more seriously into jazz.
He received his nickname "killer" from bassist Larry Ridley and became
a person of note in Indianapolis's jazz community. He went on to tour and record
with the likes of John Coltrane, Freddie Hubbard, Wes Montgomery and other artists.
Due to a car accident and diabetes, he lost part of his left leg in 1997 (sadly
died of congestive heart failure) b.
August 23rd 1941. 2016:
Anne Pashley (80) British Olympic athlete and opera singer. She became
an opera singer as a soprano, and made her stage debut in 1959. She performed
at Glyndebourne, Covent Garden and across Europe. Prior to her musical career,
Anne
claimed the bronze medal at the 1954 European Championships in Berne, Switzerland
in the women's individual 100 metres and then represented Great Britain at the
1956 Summer Olympics, where she won the silver medal in the women's 4×100m
relay (?)b. June 5th 1935.2016:
Natalie Lamb/Natalie Paine (83) American jazz and blues singer, born
in New York. She was a graduate of Hunter College and received a Doctorate in
Education from Columbia. Natalie served the public school system in New York City,
as an educator for over 30 years. As an accomplished singer, her specialty of
1920's Jazz and Blues could be heard with many different bands including the Red
Onion Jazz Band and the Peruna Jazz Band (sadly died after
a long illness) b. November 10th 1932.

October
8th.1772:
Jean Joseph de Mondonville(60)
French composer and violinist born in Narbonne in Southwest France . In 1733 he
moved to Paris where he gained the patronage of the king's mistress Madame de
Pompadour and won several musical posts, including violinist for the Concert Spirituel.
His motet Venite exultemus domino, published in 1740, won him the post of Maître
de musique de la Chapelle (Master of Music of the Chapel). Thanks to his mastery
of both orchestral and vocal music, Jean brought to his grand motet -- the dominant
genre of music in the repertory of the Chapelle royale (Royal Chapel) before the
Revolution (died in Belleville near Paris)December
25th 1711 (baptised)1834: François-Adrien
Boïeldieu (58)French composer under
the Ancien Régime in Rouenl, one of the most significant composer in France
in the early decades of the nineteenth century, In 1825 he produced his masterpiece,
La dame blanche. Unusual for the time, La dame blanche was based on episodes from
two novels by Walter Scott. The libretto by Eugène Scribe is built around
the theme of the long lost child fortunately recognized at a moment of peril.
The style of the opera influenced Lucia di Lammermoor, I puritani and La jolie
fille de Perth. La dame blanche was one of the first attempts to introduce the
fantastic into opera (cancer of the larynx)b.
December 16th
1775.1953:
Kathleen Mary Ferrier CBE (41) English contralto singer, born in Higher
Walton, Lancashire. She later moved with her family to Blackburn, Lancashire.
She excelled in the music of Mahler, of Bach and of Handel. Her recitals often
included songs by Schubert, Schumann and Brahms, and towards the end of her career
she sang Chausson's Poème de l'amour et de la mer. However, she is perhaps
best remembered for her interpretations of British folk songs, including "Blow
the wind southerly". She
also sang regularly in the Netherlands, and in France, Germany, Italy and Scandinavia.
She paid three visits to North America in 1948, 1949 and 1950 and sang at each
of the first six Edinburgh International Festivals. Benjamin Britten wrote several
works specifically for her, including Lucretia in The Rape of Lucretia, Abraham
and Isaac (also written for Peter Pears), and part of the Spring Symphony. Among
other composers who wrote specifically for her were Lennox Berkeley, Arthur Bliss
and Edmund Rubbra. She worked with many famous conductors, including Bruno Walter,
John Barbirolli, Malcolm Sargent, Clemens Krauss, Otto Klemperer, Herbert von
Karajan, Eduard van Beinum and also with Benjamin Britten. She also worked with
other famous singers such as Isobel Baillie, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Julius Patzak
and Peter Pears. Kathleen was especially remembered for her brave performances
during her final illness. (Sadly
lost to breast cancer) b. April 22nd
1912
1955: Iry LeJeune (26)American accordionist born in Pointe Noire,
Louisiana, he was one of the best selling and most popular Cajun musicians in
the mid to late 1940s into the early 1950s. His
recordings and repertoire remain influential to the present day. He was among
a handful of recording artists who returned the accordion to prominence in commercially
recorded Cajun music and dance hall performances. In 1948 Iry met fiddler
Floyd LeBlanc, together they traveled to Houston, Texas where they recorded "Love
Bridge Waltz" and "Evangeline Special" with Virgil Bozeman's Oklahoma
Tornadoes supporting. This disc was the turning point in his career and for Cajun
music. Iry eventually assembled a band, the Lacassine Playboys, which at one time
or another featured Crawford Vincent or Robby Bertrand on drums, Alfred "Duckhead"
Cormier on guitar, Wilson Granger on fiddle, R. C. Vanicor on steel guitar and
occasionally Shuler on guitar.(Iry
and fiddler J. B. Fuselier were returning home after playing at a dance at the
Green Wing club in Eunice when they got a flat. While changing the tyre a driver
sped past at about 90mph, hitting Iry, killing him and knocking his body into
a field)b. October 28th 1928.1977:
Giorgos Papasideris (75)Greece country singer, composer and lyricist;
born on Salamis Island, Greece, after leaving elementary school, he spent his
entire career working professionally in the field of traditional Greek folk music
and Arvanite folk music, producing many popular recordings. In
Alonia, a district of Salamis
City, there is a bust in memory of him. (heart attack)b. September 14th 1902.1995:
Christopher Keene (47)American
conductor, born in Berkeley, CA; he
studied at the University of California, Berkeley. From 1969 to 1971 he was Music
Director of Eliot Feld's American Ballet Company. Also associated with the Spoleto
Festival from 1968 and was Music Director there from 1972 to 1976, after which
he co-founded the Spoleto Festival USA, where he was Music Director from 1977
to 1980. Christopher conducted in many of the major opera houses including in
1976 conducting the world premiere of Gian Carlo Menotti's The Hero for the Opera
Company of Philadelphia. He was founder of the Long Island Philharmonic in 1979,
and directed it until 1990. In 1976, he led the world premiere of Carlisle Floyd's
Bilby's Doll, at the Houston Grand Opera. His last performance, at the City Opera,
was of Hindemith's Mathis der Maler (sadly
died from lymphoma arising from AIDS) b. December
21st 1946.2008:
Gidget Gein/Bradley Stewart (39)American
bassist; born
in Hollywood, Florida and was taught to play guitar by a catholic priest. He grew
up with his friend
Brian Hugh Warner and their personalities
expressed themselves through fun ideals in Gidget Gein and Marilyn Manson. They
formed the band and
came on south Florida music scene as
Marilyn Manson & the Spooky Kids, and began
to work with musician-producer Trent Reznor.
They dropped the Spooky Kids from the band name in 1992. Sadly, Gidget was going
out of control as his drug habit increased and he was dropped from the band in
1993. He did a stint in New York forming the band Gidget Gein and the Dali Gaggers
with guitarist Al B. Romano which featured various fun displays of degenerate
art and post-punk styled songwriting. Before the release of the Dali Gaggers only
album Confessions of a Spooky Kid, he headed back to Florida to try to kick his
drug addiction. He left Florida in 2004 taking his now extensive art collection
with him, and began to execute art and fashion shows in Hollywood, California,
under the organised name Gollywood
(after some years
of sobriety, Bradley sadly died of a heroin overdose) b.
September 11th 1969.2010: Reg King (65) English
singer and songwriter, born in Paddington,
London; he was most famous for being the lead singer with The Boys and The Action.
(sadly
died fighting cancer) b. February
5th 1945.2010: Albertina Walker (81)American
gospel music singer, in the early 1950s Walker founded her own Gospel music group
The Caravans, The Caravans' membership has included: James Cleveland, Bessie Griffin,
Shirley Caesar, Dorothy Norwood, Inez Andrews, Loleatta Holloway, Cassietta George,
and Delores Washington. Her discovery of these artists resulted in the nickname
"Star Maker". Walker retired The Caravans in the late 1960s, performing
as a solo artist. In
the mid 1970s, Albertina signed with Savoy Records then Benson Records, Word Records,
A&M Records, and other record companies, recording a series of solo projects,
many of them with big church choirs including The Evangelical Choir, The Cathedral
of Love Choir, The Metro Mass choir, and her own church choir - The West Point
Choir. She recorded her first solo project Put A Little Love In Your Heart in
1975. She also recorded several projects together with Reverend James Cleveland.
To date, she has recorded over 60 albums, including gold selling hits "Please
Be Patient With Me", "I Can Go To God In Prayer", "The Best
Is Yet To Come", "Impossible Dream", and "Joy Will Come".
Albertina has sung for United States presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton,
and Sth Africa's president, Nelson Mandela ()
b. August 29th 1929.2011: Ingvar Wixell (80) Swedish
baritone opera singer, born in Luleå
he made his debut in 1955 as Papageno in Mozart's The Magic Flute at the Royal
Swedish Opera in Stockholm where he was member of the company until 1967. He made
his British debut during the Royal Swedish Operas visit to Covent Garden
in 1960, and sang Gugliemo at Glyndebourne and at the Proms in 1962. For
the Royal Opera, London he sang Boccanegra in 1972. In America he appeared at
San Francisco Opera - 1972 and the Metropolitan Opera - 1973. He was engaged at
the Deutsche Oper Berlin 1967 where he was a member for more than 30 years. At
Bayreuth he sang the Herald in Lohengrin - 1971. Among other roles, he has sung
Figaro in Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia, Escamillo in Bizet's Carmen Amonasro
in Verdi's Aïda, Baron Scarpia in Puccini's Tosca, and the title roles in
Verdi's Rigoletto, Simon Boccanegra, Mozart's Don Giovanni, Verdi's Falstaff and
Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin. In 1965, Wixell performed all the songs in the competition
to select Sweden's Eurovision Song Contest entry. The winning song was "Annorstädes
Vals" (Elsewhere Waltz), which Wixell went on to perform at the international
final in Naples (?) b. May
7th 1931. 2011: Mikey Welsh (40)American
artist and bassist, born in Syracuse, New York, best known as the former bassist
of the alternative rock band Weezer. He started out as a Boston-area musician,
playing in bands such as Heretix, Chevy Heston, Jocobono, Left Nut, and Slower.
He was also Juliana Hatfield's touring bassist. In 1997 he joined the first incarnation
of The Rivers Cuomo Band, the side-project of Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo. Mikey
joined Weezer following the departure of
Matt Sharp in 1998. During Weezer's hiatus he played with Verbena and the first
incarnation of Patrick Wilson's band The Special Goodness. He again played with
Weezer from the time that they regrouped in 2000 until August 2001, when he suffered
a mental breakdown. Shortly afterwards, Mikey retired from music to focus on his
art career. By Aug 2008 he had 13 exhibitions of his artwork and he was a member
of Outsider Art (tragically,
Mikey was found dead in a hotel room in Chicago, Illinois. No cause of death has
yet been announced) b. April
20th 1971.2011:
Roger Williams/Louis Weertz (87)American
pianist born in Omaha, Nebraska; he is noted for recording "Autumn Leaves",
the only piano instrumental to reach No.1 on Billboard's popular music chart in
1955. It sold over two million copies, and was awarded a gold disc. In 1966 he
had another Top Ten hit with the song "Born Free" from the motion picture
soundtrack. His other hits include "Near You", "Till", "The
Impossible Dream", "Yellow Bird", "Maria", and "The
Theme from Somewhere in Time". Billboard magazine ranks him as the top selling
piano recording artist in history with 18 gold and platinum albums to his credit
and as of 2004, he had released 116 albums. He
was known as the "Pianist to the Presidents" having played for nine
administrations beginning with Harry S. Truman. His last White House performance
was in November 2008 for a luncheon hosted by former First Lady Laura Bush. On
his 75th birthday, Roger performed his first 12 hour piano marathon. He performed
the marathon at Steinway Hall in New York City and the Nixon, Carter and Reagan
Presidential Libraries. His Steinway & Sons "Gold Steinway" grand
piano has been on tour for public display and entertainment during 20072008.
In 2010 Roger was inducted into the Hit Parade Hall of Fame
(Roger
sadly died while fighting pancreatic cancer)
b. October 1st 1924. 2012: Varsha Bhosle (56) Indian
journalist and singer; she worked as a hindi and bhojpuri playback singer in Hindi
and Marathi movies, and appeared in concerts with her mother.Varsha finished school
from Hill Grange High School, on Pedder Road, Mumbai, in 1974, with an ISC. She
studied Political Science at Elphinstone College, which is affiliated with Bombay
University in Mumbai. She wrote
columns for the Indian web portal, Rediff[1], during 1997 - 2003; columns for
The Sunday Observer during 1994 - 1998; and for Gentleman magazine in 1993. She
also wrote a little for the Times of India and for Rakshak - The Protector police
magazine (sadly,
suicide
by gunshot)
b. 1956.2012: John Tchicai (76)Danish
saxophonist and pioneer of free jazz, born in Aarhus; he studied violin as a boy,
and in his mid-teens began playing clarinet and alto saxophone, focusing on the
latter. By the late 1950s he was travelling around northern Europe, playing with
many musicians. He moved to New York in 1963 and co-founded The New York Contemporary
Five with Archie Shepp. He later became a leading figure of the jazz avant-garde
movement in Europe. He also played with John Coltrane, Milford Graves, Carla Bley
and Steve Swallow. He returned to Europe in 2001 and eventually settled in southern
France(On June 11th 2012 he suffered a brain hemorrhage,
he was recovering but sadly he has died in a Perpignan hospital) b. April
28th 19362013: Philip
Chevron/Philip Ryan (56)Irish
singer, songwriter and guitarist; born in Dublin he was regarded as one of the
most influential figures in Irish punk music. In 1976 along with Pete Holidai,
Steve Rapid, Jimmy Crashe and Mark Megaray he founded the punk rock outfit The
Radiators from Space, in which Philip was lead singer. They were one of the earliest
punk bands and released two albums, TV Tube Heart in 1977 and Ghostown in 1979.
Following a temporary breakup of the band in 1981, he lived in London where he
befriended Shane MacGowan when they worked together at a record shop. Following
the release of the Pogues' 1984 debut album Red Roses For Me, Philip was invited
to join the band on a short-term basis as cover for banjo player Jem Finer's paternity
leave. He then took over as lead guitarist when Shane decided to concentrate on
singing and he became a full-time member >>>Read
More<<<(sadly Philip died while
bravely battling esophageal cancer) b. June 17th 19572016:
Kuo Chin-fa (72) Taiwanese Hokkien pop singer; his best-known work,
a rerecording of the song "Hot Rice Dumpling," was released in 1959.
Shortly after the original was released in 1949, the Kuomintang had begun censorship
of Taiwanese Hokkien, limiting Taiwanese Hokkien popular music on the airwaves,
and banning performances of "Hot Rice Dumpling". His popularity rose
during the 1960s, and lasted throughout his career, which spanned over 100 albums.
The Chinese Taipei national baseball team used "Hot Rice Dumpling" as
its theme song at the 2006 Asian Games. (While performing
in Fongshan, Kaohsiung, Kuo collapsed on stage and was taken to Kaohsiung Armed
Forces General Hospital, where tragically he was declared dead. He had sadly died
from cardiorespiratory failure) b. March 1st 1944.2016:
Don Ciccone (70)American singer, songwriter
and musician born in Jersey City. He was a founding member of the pop group The
Critters and he wrote "Mr. Dieingly Sad"; it reached No.17 for the group.
After he quitted the Critters, he joined the U.S. Air Force and served during
the Vietnam War. Later in his career he was a member of Frankie Valli and the
Four Seasons, and Tommy James and the Shondells(?)b. February 28th 1946.

October
9th.1941:
Helen Morgan (41)American
singer, guitarist and actress born in Danville, Illinois, and worked in films
and on the stage. She
toured extensively in vaudeville and
made a big splash in the Chicago club scene in the 1920s. She starred as Julie
LaVerne in the original Hammerstein
and Kern's musical Broadway
production of Show Boat in 1927 as well as in the 1932 Broadway revival of the
musical, and appeared in the first two of its subsequent film adaptations, in
1929 and in 1936, becoming firmly associated with the role.
Another notable success was the title role of Hammerstein and Kern's musical,
Sweet Adeline in 1929.
She also appeared and sang in many films including Applause, Glorifying the American
Girl, Roadhouse Nights, The Gigolo Racket, Manhattan Lullaby, Frankie and Johnnie,
You Belong to Me, Marie Galante, Sweet Music to mention a few.
Helen was portrayed in the 1957
biopic The Helen Morgan Story.(cirrhosis
of the liver)b.
August 2nd 1900.1973:
Sister Rosetta Tharpe (58)American pioneering gospel singer, songwriter
and recording artist;
born Rosetta Nubin in Cotton Plant, Arkansas, she began
performing at age four, billed as "Little Rosetta Nubin, the singing and
guitar playing miracle". Rosetta
attained popularity in the 1930s and 1940s with a unique mixture of spiritual
lyrics and early rock and roll accompaniment. She became the first great recording
star of gospel music in the late '30s and also became known as the "original
soul sister" of recorded music. On October 31, 1938, Rosetta recorded for
the first time, four sides with Decca Records backed by "Lucky" Millinder's
jazz orchestra. Her records caused an immediate furor: many churchgoers were shocked
by the mixture of sacred and secular music, but secular audiences loved them.
Songs like "This Train" and "Rock Me", which combined gospel
themes with bouncy up-tempo arrangements, became smash hits among audiences with
little previous exposure to gospel music. In April / May 1964, she toured the
UK as part of the "American Folk Blues and Gospel Caravan", alongside
Muddy Waters and Otis Spann, Ranson Knowling and Little Willie Smith, Reverend
Gary Davis, Cousin Joe and Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee;
pianist Cousin Joe Pleasant accompanied
her on stage. Many musicians, from Elvis Presley and Jerry Lee Lewis to Isaac
Hayes and Aretha Franklin to Sean Michel and The Noisettes have cited her as an
influence. The Noisettes
released the single "Sister Rosetta
(Capture the Spirit)" in 2007, the same year Alison Krauss and Robert Plant
released a duet album Raising Sand, Track No.7 of that album is titled "Sister
Rosetta Goes Before Us". (Her
performances were curtailed by a stroke in 1970, after which she lost the use
of her legs. Rosetta sadly died after a second stroke, on the eve of a scheduled
recording session) b. March 20th 1915 1978: Jacques Brel (49)Belgian
singer-songwriter. Brel composed and recorded his songs almost exclusively in
French, although he recorded a number of songs in Dutch.
Brel's
songs are not especially well known in the English-speaking world except in translation
and through the interpretations of other singers, most famously Scott Walker and
Judy Collins. Others who have sung his work in English include Karen Akers, Marc
Almond, Momus/Nick Currie, Beirut, Bellowhead, David Bowie, Ray Charles, John
Denver, The Dresden Dolls, Gavin Friday, Alex Harvey, Terry Jacks, Alan Clayson,
Barb Jungr, The Kingston Trio, Jack Lukeman, Amanda McBroom, Rod McKuen, Sensational
Alex Harvey Band, Spencer Moody, Camille O'Sullivan, Dax Riggs, Nina Simone, Frank
Sinatra, Dusty Springfield, Laurika Rauch and Dave Van Ronk. In French-speaking
countries, Brel is also remembered as an actor and director. Jacques has sold
over 25 million records worldwide, including over 12 million albums and singles
in France and Belgium. His
most frequently recorded song is "Ne me quitte pas" ("Don't Leave
Me"), usually translated in English as "If You Go Away", overall,
there have been at least 400 different recorded versions of this standard in at
least 22 different languages (sadly lost his battle with
cancer) b. April
8th 1929.1988: Clifton
'Cliff' Gallup (58) American electric
guitarist, who played rock and roll in Gene Vincent's band The Blue Caps in the
1950s. He played on 35 tracks with Vincent, including his biggest hit "Be-Bop-A-Lula",
and established a reputation as one of the most technically proficient guitarists
in early rock and roll. He left the band in '56, returning only for some more
studio sessions that same year for the second Gene Vincent & The Bluecaps
LP. In the mid 1960s Clinton made a solo album for the local Pussy Cat record
label in Norfolk, 'Straight Down the Middle', in a more mellow instrumental style
akin to Chet Atkins and Les Paul. He played guitar up until the day he died. He
last played in Norfolk with a group called the H-Lo's 48 hours before his death
(heart attack)b.
June 17th 1930.1991:
Roy Black/Gerhard Höllerich (48) German
pop/schlager singer and actor who appeared in several musical comedies and starred
in the 1989 TV series, Ein Schloß am Wörthersee. Roy Black and His
Cannons achieved local fame and were offered a recording contract with Polydor
Records. However, his record producer Hans Bertram decided on a solo career for
Roy, and a switch to romantic songs for his protégé, a decision
which soon led to nationwide fame. In 1966, his single "Ganz in Weiß"
sold in excess of one million copies by the end of 1967. His 1969 song "Dein
schönstes Geschenk", sold one million copies by May 1970, having spent
nine weeks at number one in the German chart. From 1967, Black also took on roles
in several musical comedy films, for example in the 1969 movie Hilfe, ich liebe
Zwillinge/ Help, I Love Twins(heart
failure) b.
January 25th 1943.1999: Milt Jackson (76)
American vibraphonist; born in Detroit, he very was an expressive player,
he differentiated himself from other vibraphonists in his attention to variations
of dynamics and rhythm. He was particularly fond of the 12-bar blues at slow tempos.
Milt was discovered by Dizzy Gillespie, who hired him for his sextet in 1946 and
also kept him for larger ensembles. He quickly acquired experience working with
the most important figures in jazz of the era, including Woody Herman, Howard
McGhee, Thelonious Monk, and Charlie Parker. From the mid-70s to the mid-80s,
Jackson recorded for Norman Granz's Pablo Records, including the classic Jackson,
Johnson, Brown & Company (1983), featuring Milt with J. J. Johnson on trombone,
Ray Brown on bass, backed by Tom Ranier on piano, guitarist John Collins, and
drummer Roy McCurdy. He also guested on recordings by many leading jazz, blues
and soul artists, such as B.B. King, John Coltrane, Wes Montgomery, and Ray Charles
(?) b. January 1st 1923.2003: Carl Fontana (75)American jazz trombonist, born in Monroe, Louisiana,
he learned jazz music from his father Collie, a saxophonist and violin player,
and first performed with his father's band while in high school. He attended at
University of Louisiana Monroe for two years, then transferred to Louisiana State
University, receiving his degree in Music Education in 1950. From 1951 he joined
up with Woody Herman, after
three years he joined Lionel Hampton's
big band in 1954. In early 1955 he played briefly with Hal McIntyre before joining
Stan Kenton's big band later in the year. He recorded three albums with Kenton
and also worked with fellow trombonist Kai Winding during this period. In 1966
he toured in Africa with Herman's band, but he primarily performed with house
orchestras in Las Vegas during the 1960s, particularly Paul Anka's band and the
bands backing Sammy Davis Jr., Tony Bennett, Wayne Newton, and the Benny Goodman
orchestra. In the 1980s, he appeared regularly on National Public Radio's Monday
Night Jazz program. And although he recorded on more than 70 albums over his long
career, his first true record as a headliner did not appear until 1985 when Uptown
Jazz released The Great Fontana, his first release as a solo headliner. He toured
internationally now and then with various artists, but because he rarely recorded
under his own name and toured only occasionally after 1958, he is significantly
less famous among mainstream jazz fans, although very well-known amongst his fellow
musicians. (sadly alzheimer's disease took him away)b.
July 18th 1928.2003:
Don Lanphere (75) American tenor and soprano
saxophonist born in Wenatchee, Washington; he ranked with some of the top jazz
musicians of his time before he was even 20, recording with such trumpet legends
as Fats Navarro and Max Roach in the late 1940s and early 1950s. He played gigs
with Woody Herman, Charlie Parker and Artie Shaw. In the late 50s and early 60s
he performed with Herb Pomeroy and Woody Herman again. In the '80s he began doing
tours in New York and Kansas City in 1983 and a European tour in 1985. (sadly
lost to liver failure) b. June 26th
1928.2007: Lady Jaye Breyer P-Orridge née Jacqueline Breyer
(38) American nurse, rock
keyboardist and singer with Thee
Majesty and PTV3 (a revamped version
of Psychic TV); they released fourteen live albums in eighteen months, enough
to earn them a place in the Guinness Book of World Records (Lady
Jayre had an undiagnosed heart condition which was thought to have been connected
with her long-term battle with stomach cancer. Lady Jaye collapsed and died in
the arms of her heartbroken husband Genesis Breyer P-Orridge)
b. July 1st 1969. 2009: Russell Allen "Rusty" Wier (65)
American singer-songwriter from Austin, Texas; Rusty's
career started the early 1970s and covers multiple music genres. He is most famous
for his composition "Don't It Make You Wanna Dance" which was a small
hit for him, but has been covered by, among artists, Jerry Jeff Walker, Chris
LeDoux, John Hiatt, Barbara Mandrell, and Bonnie Raitt whose version of the song
was a country hit when it was included on the Urban Cowboy soundtrack. Rusty was
inducted into the Austin Music Awards Hall of Fame in 2002.(cancer)
b. May 3rd 1944.2009: Zambo
Cavero/Arturo
Cavero Velásquez (68) Afro
Peruvian singer, who enjoyed international fame and considered by many Peruvians
a symbol of the Afro Peruvian identity or Peruanidad. He
specialized in interpreting, traditional songs from authentic and original rhythms
of Perú, some of his best interpretations are songs that were composed
by the notable Peruvian composer Augusto Polo Campos, other comes from a profound
Afro-Peruvian traditional Música criolla which is actually Afro Peruvian
music.(sadly
Zambo died
in Rebagliati Hospital in Lima,
from complications of sepsis)
b. November 29th
1940.
2011: Bill Brown (69)American disc jockey born in Lawrenceville, Georgia; he
began his radio career at various radio stations, including San Diego Top 40 station
136/KGB, now KLSD. He began working on WOR-FM now WRKS in 1966 doing various swing
airshifts, eventually becoming full time. Initially, WOR-FM was a progressive
rock station, but it evolved into an adult top 40/oldies station by 1968. When
CBS-FM launched a freeform rock format in 1969, Bill with his signature deep voice
was hired. In 1972, when the station flipped to Oldies, Bill adjusted. He would
remain a constant at CBS-FM until the bitter end in 2005 when the Jack
format took over, making the jocks obsolete. He
then retired from CBS-FM after 33 years of playing oldies as well as nearly 36
years of service. He is the only air personality to be with the station through
their first entire run using live on air personalities. He did one of their first
shifts the day WCBS FM adopted the rock format in 1969 and the very last live
airshift doing oldies in 2005(?) b. August 15th 1942.2014: Rita
Shane (78)American
operatic soprano, born in the Bronx, New York, she studied at Barnard College
and made her operatic debut as Olympia in Les contes d'Hoffmann, at Chattanooga
in 1964. The next year she appearing with the New York City Opera, as Donna Elvira
in Don Giovanni. She became known and greatly admired for the range, flexibility
and size of her voice, as well as the intensity she brought to her performances.
Her last performance at the Metropolitan Opera House was as Berthe in Meyerbeers
Le Prophète in 1979. Her roles included Musetta in Puccinis
La Bohème, Pamira in Rossinis Siege of Corinth,
the title role in Donizettis Lucia di Lammermoor and roles in
three Verdi operas: Oscar in Ballo in Maschera, Violetta in La
Traviata and Gilda in Rigoletto. She appeared in a total of
71 Met performances.(sadly died fighting pancreatic and liver cancer)
b. August 15th 1936. 2014: Style Scott/Lincoln
Valentine Scott (58)Jamaican reggae drummer
and original member of the influential Roots Radics Band. Born in Chapelton, Clarendon,
hewas a member of the Jamaica Military Band who also played the north coast hotel
circuit before he formed the 'Radics'. They recorded and toured with Isaacs, Wailer
and roots group Israel Vibration. In more recent years Style toured Europe frequently
as leader of the Dub Syndicate Band, which he coordinated with British reggae
historian/producer Adrian Sherwood. (Police found
Style dead at his home in Williamsfield district of Manchester, after explosions
or gunshots had been heard from his house)b. 1955/19562016:
Quique Lucca (103) Puerto Rican musician, founder and
leader of La Sonora Ponceña, formed in 1954. Born in Yauco, but moved to
Ponce with his parents in 1928, when he was 16 years old, where he started to
work as a car mechanic and started playing the guitar. In 1944 Quique put together
a band called "El Conjunto Internacional", in 1954 he renamed it "Conjunto
Sonora Ponceña" and in 1958, recorded thier first 78 RPM. In 1968
the group started its official recordings on 33 RPM with the song "Hacheros
Pa' Un Palo". In 1994, Sonora Ponceña celebrated its 40th anniversary
with a festival at Estadio Juan Ramón Loubriel in Bayamón. Over
the years they performed in many parts of the work including Venezuela, Mexico,
USA, Panamá, Colombia, Perú, England, Spain, France, Switzerland
and Italy(?)b.
December 12th 1912. 2016: Michiyuki Kawashima
(47)Japanese guitarist and vocalis t with the
band Boom Boom Satellites, an electronic music duo formed in Tokyo in 1990 by
Michiyuki and bassist Masayuki Nakano. They
met at university and debuted in Europe as
a rock unit in 1997 and to celebrate their 15th anniversary together, Boom Boom
Satellites released their eighth studio album 'Embrace' in January 2013. For their
first promotional single for the album, the duo recorded a cover of the Beatles'
"Helter Skelter" as their first ever cover of any other artist. Their
last release was their EP "Lay Down Your Hands" released in June 2016,
before they retired the duo, due to Michiyuki's illness (sadly
Michiyuki died from a brain tumor)b.
August
24th 1969.2016:
Angus R. Grant (49)Scottish fiddler brought
up in Lochaber and was frontman for Edinburgh based band Shooglenifty, and prior
to that he performed with Swamptrash. With Shooglenifty he helped to create a
genre of music called acid croft, described as "a blend of Celtic traditional
music and dance grooves". They formed in 1990 and released 9 albums the last
being "The Untied Knot" in 2015.(?)b. February 14th 1967.2016:
Guy Nadon (82)Canadian jazz drummer, dubbed
the "King of Drums",worked as a musician for more than 60 years, taking
part in Montreal's vibrant jazz scene and playing alongside stars like Charles
Aznavour and Buddy Rich. He was the subject of a 1992 documentary entitled, "Le
roi du drum", made by Quebec filmmaker Serge Giguère and in 1998,
he took home the Oscar Peterson Award. Over his career Guy performed at the Montreal
International Jazz Festival more than 30 times, holding his final concert in June
of 2016 with organizers billing it as a "33rd and final victory lap"
(sadly Guy died suffering from kidney disease) b.
January 29th 1934. 2016: Marin Petrache Pechea
(71)Romanian singer and saxophonist jazz, born
in Bucharest, but in 1986, because of the
communist regime he asked for political asylum in Denmark, returning to Romania
in 1991. He was also a member of the band Chromatic Band and owned a record label,
and a restaurant bearing his name.(sadly
Marin died fighting cancer) b.
November 25th 1944. 2016: Bored Nothing/Fergus
David Edward Miller (26) Australian singer-songwriter,
Melbourne. Recording under the name Bored Nothing, he signed to Spunk records
released his first records in 2012 at the age of 22. His debut was a self-titled
14 track LP released via Cooperative Music. He played every instrument on the
album, except one guitar part and a keyboard line, as well as recording and producing
the album at home. In 2014 he released his second album, 'Some Songs', preceded
by the single 'Ice-Cream Dreams' (tragically suffering
from depression, Fergus committed suicide) b. 1990.October
10th.1964:
Eddie Cantor/Edward Israel Iskowitz (72)
American
vaudeville performer, dancer,
comedian,
singer, actor, and songwriter. Familiar to Broadway, radio and early TV audiences,
he was regarded almost as a family member by millions because his top-rated radio
shows revealed intimate stories and amusing anecdotes about his wife Ida and five
daughters. His eye-rolling song-and-dance routines eventually led to his nickname,
Banjo Eyes. His eyes became his trademark, often exaggerated in illustrations,
and leading to his appearance on Broadway in the musical Banjo Eyes in 1941
(heart attack)b. January
31st 1892.1978: Ralph Marterie(63) Italian trumpet player and big-band leader
born in Acerra, Italy. In the 1940s, he played trumpet for various bands.
In 1953 he recorded a version of Bill Haley's "Crazy, Man, Crazy" which
reached No.13 on the Billboard jockey chart,
his highest success in the U.S. charts was a cover of "Skokiaan" in
1954. Other hits "Pretend", "Tricky", "Caravan"
"Shish-Kebab", "Dancing Trumpet", "Dry Marterie",
and "Carla" (?) b.
December 24th
1914.1979:
Paul
Paray (93) French
conductor, organist and composer,
born Le Tréport;
in 1911, he won the Premier Grand Prix de Rome for his cantata Yanitza. After
WW1, he was invited to conduct the orchestra of the Casino de Cauterets, which
included players from the Lamoureux Orchestra, which led him to conduct this Orchestra
in Paris. Later he was music director of the Monte Carlo Orchestra, and president
of the Concerts Colonne. He made his US debut with the New York Philharmonic Symphony
Orchestra in 1939. In 1952, he was appointed music director of the Detroit Symphony
Orchestra, conducting them in numerous recordings for Mercury Records' "Living
Presence" series. He also was a National Patron of Delta Omicron, an international
professional music fraternity (?)
b. May
24th 1886. 2002: Teresa Graves (54)African-American actress
and singer; born in Houston, Texas, Teresa began her career singing with The Doodletown
Pipers, before turning to acting and became a regular in Our Place in 1967, Turn
On in 1969 and then the Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In. She appeared in a number
of films before her pivotal role in the 1974 television movie Get Christie Love!
from
which Teresa
is credited as the first African American woman to play the lead in a police film
and TV show.In
1983, she retired from show business to devote her time to the religion (died
in a fire at her home) b.
January 10th 1948. 2003: Eugene Istomin (77)American classical
pianist, born in New York City; he was famed for his work in the piano trio, with
Isaac Stern and Leonard Rose, the Istomin-Stern-Rose Trio, with whom he made many
recordings, particularly of music by Beethoven, Brahms and Schubert. He also played
with them in orchestral music, with conductors such as Eugene Ormandy, Bruno Walter
and also worked as as a soloist. He went on to win the Leventritt award, a
Grammy Award in 1970, the
Philhadelphia Youth Award, and also received the French Legion d'Honneur in 2001
(sadly Eugene died from liver cancer)
b. November
26th 1925.2005: Nick Hawkins (40)British
guitarist born in Luton; he joined Big Audio Dynamite II in 1990, and went on
to receive gold and platinum awards with the band for their hit singles, "Rush"
and "The Globe". He left the band in 1997, but continued to write and
produce music and moved to the USA, making his home in Las Vegas. Nick also scored
for films as well as producing his wife, Jo Beng's debut album, which was released
on his own record label, P-Phonic Records (died of a heart
attack) b. February 3rd 1965.2008:
Dave Wright (64) English
rhythm
guitarist and vocalist
born in Winchester; he was
a member of the British rock band The Troggs founded in the 1960s that had a number
of hits in UK and the US. Their most famous songs include, "Wild Thing",
"With a Girl Like You", and "Love Is All Around". The Troggs'
Billboard Hot 100 chart topper "Wild Thing" is ranked No.257 on the
Rolling Stone magazine's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time and was an
influence on garage rock and punk rock (?)
b. January 21st
1944.
2009: Luis
Aguilé (73) Argentine
singer and songwriter; he started his career in Argentina, before relocating to
Spain in 1963, where he had a successful musical career, both as a songwriter
and singer. In
the 80s, he was the musical assessor of the Televisión Española
multidisciplinary contest "1,2,3 Responda Otra Vez".He has more than
700 songs to his name but maybe best known for his worldwide hit song '"Cuando
Sali de Cuba" ("When I Left Cuba"). Back in 1990, Luis Aguilé
created the music and lyrics of the anthem of CF Monterrey. It is considered one
of the best soccer anthems in the world. He has also worked as a music producer
and author, mainly on children's books and novels. He has been finalist twice
for the Premio Planeta of Spanish Novel (stomach cancer)b. February
24th 1936.2009: Stephen Gately (33)Irish pop singer
and actor, born in Dublin, along with Ronan Keating, he was one of two lead singers
in the boy band Boyzone. The band was put together in 1993 by manager Louis Walsh
and thier 1994 debut single "Working My Way Back to You" reached No.3
in the Irish charts; this was followed by 17 top ten hits in the UK singles charts,
which included 6 chart toppers. They released 3 albums Said And Done, A Different
Beat, and Where We Belong, all of which reached the No.1 spot in the UK. After
the success of Boyzone, the band decided in 2000 to move on to solo projects.
Stephen was the first with his debut solo single titled New Beginning and later
a debut solo album of the same name. The album included "Bright Eyes"
which he recorded for the soundtrack to the new TV version of Watership Down.
He also became the voice of one of the characters, 'Blackavar', which was created
to look like him. Stephen also took to the stage appearing in a various stage
productions, which included the lead role in Bill Kenwright's new production of
Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and he appeared on many television programmes. In
2008, he rejoined his bandmates as Boyzone reformed for a series of concerts and
recordings (died suddenly while on holiday in Mallorca,
the cause of death has yet to be determined)b.
March 17th 1976.2010:
Solomon Burke (70)American
Grammy Award winning singer-songwriter, born in Philadelphia; he began his adult
life as a preacher in Philadelphia, soon moving on to host a gospel radio show
and met fellow preacher Martin Luther King, Jr. several times. His first hit was
"Just Out Of Reach (Of My Two Open Arms)", after he had signed to Atlantic
Records. Solomon's best known song is "Cry to Me", was a hit twice:
first in the 60's, and again in the 1980s when it was used in the film and appeared
on the soundtrack for Dirty Dancing. He released his debut album ''Solomon Burke''
in 1962, this was followed by a further 35 albums>>>READ
MORE<<<(Solomon died
of natural causes at Schiphol Airport in the Netherlands, immediately after his
flight from Los Angeles to Amsterdam, where he had been due to perform with De
Dijk on October 12) b. March 21st 1940.2011: Jagjit Singh (70)Indian ghazal
singer, composer, music director, pianist and entrepreneur. Popularly known as
"The Ghazal King" he gained acclaim together with his wife, another
Indian Ghazal singer Chitra Singh, in the 1970s and 1980s, as the first successful
husband-wife duo act in the history of recorded Indian music. They are considered
to be the pioneers of modern ghazal singing and regarded as most successful recording
artistes outside the realm of Indian film music. He has sung in Punjabi, Hindi,
Urdu, Bengali, Gujarati, Sindhi and Nepali languages. He was awarded India's third
highest civilian honour, the Padma Bhushan, in 2003(sadly
died of a brain haemorrhage)b.
February 8th 1941.2013:
Cal Smith/Calvin Grant Shofner (81)American
country singer, born in Gans, Oklahoma and was raised in Oakland, CA. He began
his music career performing at the Remember Me Cafe in San Francisco at the age
of 15 and appeared on the California Hayride television show in the mid-1950s
before serving two years in the military. From 1961 to
1969 he played guitar as a member of Ernest Tubb's
Texas Troubadours before launching his solo career. "The Lord Knows I'm Drinking"
became his first number-one country hit and in 1974, he recorded two of his greatest
hits, "It's Time to Pay the Fiddler" and "Country Bumpkin"
which received Song of the Year Awards from both the Academy of Country Music
and the Country Music Association. He released his last album, Stories
of Life by Cal Smith, which produced his last hit single "King Lear"
(?) b. April 7th 1932. 2013: Jan Kuehnemund (51)American guitarist and singer; originally from St. Paul,
Minnesota, she was the original founding member of the all-female American hard
rock band Vixen. Hailed as "the female Bon Jovi", the band achieved
commercial success during the late 1980s and early 1990s as part of the Los Angeles,
California glam metal scene. Her trademark guitar playing can be heard on their
debut album Vixen in 1988, the follow up album Rev It Up in 1990 and their
reunion album Live & Learn released in 2006(sadly
died while battling cancer)
b. November 18th 1961.2014:
Olav Dale (55) Norwegian composer, orchestra
leader and jazz saxophonist, born in Voss. After the debut at Vossajazz in 1974
with the Voss Storband, he appeared on recordings with Bergen based orchestras
like the Bergen Blues Band from 197584), Bergen Big Band in 1980), and with
various multi-national orchestras like Son Mu and The Gambian/Norwegian Friendship
Orchestra, before forming his own quintet in 1995. Over his career he also played
with many great international jazz names such as Philip Catherine, Paquito D'Rivera,
Claudio Roditi, Gustavo Bergalli, Phil Woods, Andy Shepherd, Bennie Wallace, Joe
Henderson, Maria Schneider, Martial Solal, Diana Krall, Mathias Rüegg and
Gianluigi Trovesi.(?)b.
October 30th 1958. 2014: Ed Nimmervoll (67)
Austrian-born Australian rock music journalist; his family relocated to Melbourne,
Victoria, in 1956; he worked on rock magazines Go-Set from 19661974 and
Juke Magazine from 197592 both as a journalist and as an editor. Since 2000,
he has been editor of HowlSpace, a website detailing Australian rock music history,
with artist profiles, news and video interviews. He was an author of several books
on the same subject and co-authored books with musicians including Brian Cadd
and Renée Geyer (sadly died of brain cancer)
b. September 21st 1947.2016:
Issa Bagayogo (54) Malian singer and kamele n'goni (similar to a banjo)
player, born in a village in Korin Bougouni; he released four full-length albums
blending his native Malian traditions with western pop music. He went on to be
a success not only in Mali, but in Europe and the USA as well (sadly
Issa died after suffering a long illness) b. 1961.

October
11th.1963: Édith Piaf/Edith Giovanni Gassion (47)
French singer and actress; one of the most popular French singers of the 1940s
and '50s, famous internationally for her husky, mournful voice and her songs of
loneliness and despair. At aged 14, she joined her father in his acrobatic street
performances all over France, where she first sang in public, before going it
alone as a street singer at the age of 16. In 1935 she was discovered in the Pigalle
area of Paris by nightclub owner Louis Leplée, whose club Le Gerny off
the Champs-Élysées was frequented by the upper and lower classes
alike. Louis taught her stage presense and nicknamed her La Môme Piaf ...The
Waif Sparrow or Little Sparrow as she was only 4ft 8in tall. After the war, she
became known internationally, touring Europe, the United States, and South America.
Among her songs are "La Vie en rose", "Non, je ne regrette rien",
"Hymne à l'amour", "Milord", "La Foule",
"l'Accordéoniste", and "Padam... Padam..." Édith's
signature song "La vie en rose" was voted a Grammy Hall of Fame Award
in 1998. (sadly lost her battle with cancer) b. December
19th 1915.1984: Tex
Williams/Sollie Paul Williams (68)
American Western swing guitarist and singer, born in Ramsey, Illinois. He
is best known for his talking blues style; his biggest hit was the novelty song,
"Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! (That Cigarette)", which held the number one position
on the Billboard charts for six weeks in 1947. "Smoke" was the No. 5
song on Billboard's Top 100 list for 1947, and was No.1 on the country chart that
year. It can be heard during the opening scenes of the 2006 movie, Thank You for
Smoking (sadly
died of pancreatic cancer)b.
August 23rd 1917.1993: Jess Thomas (66) American Wagnerian
tenor, born in San
Francisco, CA. As a child he took part
in various musical activities and later studied at the University of Nebraska
and Stanford. He made his operatic debut in '57 for San Francisco Opera performing
in Der Rosenkavalier as the Haushofmeister. He went on to be awarded the Wagner
medal at Bayreuth, in 1963. His many appearances in America and Europe between
the late 50s and early 80s included 15 seasons in 109 performances of 15 roles
at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City (?)b.
August
4th 1927.1996:
Renato
Russo/Renato
Manfredini Jr(36)Brazilian
punk rock bassist and songwriter born in Rio de Janeiro. At the age of 15, he
suffered from epiphysiolysis, a disease that paralyzed his legs for two years.
Renato had to have a platinum implant, which earned him the nickname "Six
Million Dollar Man". During
the years of 1978 and 1979, he was the bass player with the punk rock band Aborto
Elétrico / Electric Abortion. Renato wrote many songs during this period,
that would later become hits of a later band Capital Inicial. In
1982, the band broke up and developed into two bands Legião Urbana, they
became widely famous in Brazil, with protest songs at first, then songs about
love, spiritualism, family and sex. The other band formed was Capital Inicial
recording seven albums from 1982 to 1996. Renato played in both bands writing
many of the songs. In the 90s he released two solo albums, with English and Italian
songs(Sadly
died of an AIDS related illness) b. March 27th 1960.2007: Werner von Trapp (91)Austrian-born musician
and singer, member of the Trapp Family Singers who inspired the world-renowned
Trapp Family Singers, who inspired the 1959 Broadway musical and the 1965 Academy
Award-winning Best Picture The Sound of Music. The Trapps fled Austria after the
German annexation of Austria, fearing reprisals after declining to sing at Hitler's
birthday party and Georg von Trapp's refusal to accept a commission in the German
Navy. They went to America in 1938, settled in Vermont in 1942. Werner became
a naturalized US citizen while serving in the United States Army, serving with
the 10th Mountain division in Italy during World War II. Sadly his father Georg
Ritter von Trapp died in 1947 and the family eventually ceased performing. After
which Werner then became a dairy farmer before eventually retiring in Waitsfield,
Vermont. (?)
b. December 21st
1915.2008: Neal Hefti (85)American jazz trumpeter, composer, tune writer, and arranger
born in Hastings, Nebraska. He was perhaps best known for composing the theme
music for the Batman television series of the 1960s, and for scoring the 1968
film The Odd Couple and the subsequent TV series of the same name. He
began arranging professionally in his teens, when he wrote charts for Nat Towles.
He became a prominent composer and arranger while playing trumpet for Woody Herman;
when working for Herman he provided new arrangements for "Woodchopper's Ball"
and "Blowin' Up a Storm," and composed "The Good Earth" and
"Wild Root." After leaving Herman's band in 1946, Neal concentrated
on arranging and composing, although he occasionally led his own bands. He is
especially known for his charts for Count Basie such as "Li'l Darlin'"
and "Cute" (died
at his home in Toluca Lake, California) October 29th 1922.2008: Russ Hamilton/Ronald Hulme (76) British
singer, born in Liverpool; he was one of the first singer-songwriters of pop music
to have come out of the city, and the first Liverpool artist to hit the US music
scene with his song "Rainbow" several years before The Beatles. In 1957,
chart success in the U.S. was a very unusual feat for an English performer. "Rainbow"
reached No.4 on Billboard Hot 100, sold over one million copies, and reached gold
disc status. Russ
followed this with another self penned item, "Wedding Ring" which managed
to reach the Top 20. In 1960, he was invited to Nashville, and recorded "Gonna
Find Me a Bluebird" with The Jordanaires and Chet Atkins. Other hits include
"I Still Belong to You", "I Had a Dream", "My Mothers
Eyes" and "Reprieve of Tom Dooley" (?)
b. January 19th 1932.2011: Kim Brown (66)British-born Finland-based
musician, best-known for his band, The Renegades, born in Birmingham, England
but lived much of his life in Finland. He
played guitar and was the lead vocalist of the band and wrote
many of the No.1 songs for The Renegades. From 1975 to 1982, he temporarily moved
to Italy where he created a 1950's-styled classic rock'n'roll combo called Kim
& The Cadillacs recording several hits and were regulars on all kinds of national
television shows in Italy. He returned to Finland, returning occasionally to Italy
appearing in oldies shows or dance hall gigs in resort towns (sadly
Kim died battling cancer)b. June 2nd 1945. 2011: George "Mojo" Buford (81)American blues harmonica player, born in Hernando, moved Memphis,then
relocated to Chicago in 1952. He formed the
Savage Boys that eventually became known
as the Muddy Waters Jr. Band who substituted for Muddy Waters at local nightclubs
whilst he was touring. George
first played in Muddy Waters' backing band in 1959, replacing Little Walter, but
in 1962 he moved to Minneapolis to front his own band and record albums. It was
here that he gained his nickname "Mojo", because of audiences requesting
him to perform his cover version of "Got My Mojo Working". He returned
to Muddy Waters' combo in 1967 for a year when he replaced James Cotton and had
a longer tenure with Muddy Waters in the early 1970s and returned for the final
time after Jerry Portnoy departed to form The Legendary Blues Band.(sadly
died after a long time in hospital)
b. November 10th 1929. 2011: Freddie Gruber (84)American jazz drummer and teacher to a number of professional
drummers including Vinnie Colaiuta, Neil Peart, Steve Smith, Dave Weckl and Bruce
Becker. Freddie grew up in the New York bebop scene and played with Charlie Parker,
among many others. On January 15th 2011, he was honored at the NAMM Show in Anaheim,
CA. with a lifetime achievement award for educational excellence throughout his
career (?) b. May
27th 1927. 2012:
Frank Alamo/Jean-François Grandin (70) French
singer, born in Paris; he sang in a leading French children's choir, "Les
Petits Chanteurs à la croix de bois", and studied music in London
between 1957 and 1960. In 1962, he met pop music promoter and record company executive
Eddie Barclay signed him to his label and persuaded him to take the stage name
Frank Alamo, the surname being in tribute to John Wayne's film The Alamo. Alamo
helped popularise the yé-yé style of music in France. His hit records
included "Biche ô ma Biche"/"Sweets for My Sweet", "Je
veux prendre ta main"/"I Want to Hold Your Hand" and Je me bats
pour gagner"/"A Hard Day's Night". He released 30 singles over
a five-year period in the early and mid-60s(sadly
died from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis)
b.
October 12th 19412012: Erik Moseholm (82) Danish jazz bassist, composer, bandleader and music administrator,
born in Fredericia. In 1948 he moved to Copenhagen where he soon became one of
the most significant modern jazz musicians of his day and 1958
he was voted Danish Jazz Musician of the Year
and in 1960
European Jazz Bassist of the Year.
His work is well documented on some 50 albums and he has recorded with international
stars such as Don Byas and Eric Dolphy. He was the leader of the DR Big Band from
1961 to 1966 and the principal of the Rhythmic Music Conservatory in Copenhagen
from 1992 to 1997. As a music composer he composed music for all sizes of orchestras
and also created theatre and film music. In 1998
Erik was honored with the Order of the Dannebrog
(?) b. May 13th 1930. 2013: Wadih El Safi/Wadi' Francis (91)Lebanese
singer-songwriter, actor, instrumentalist and cultural icon often called the "Voice
of Lebanon". Born in Niha, he started his musical journey at 17 when he won
a singing contest held by Lebanese Radio. In 1947, El Safi traveled to Brazil,
where he remained until 1950, after which, he
toured the world, singing in many languages, including Arabic, Syriac, French,
Portuguese and Italian. He wrote over 3000 songs and is well known for his mawawil
(an improvised singing style) of 'ataba, mijana, and Abu el Zuluf. He has also
performed and recorded with many well-known Lebanese musicians, including , Fairouz,
and Sabah (In
2012, he broke his leg and had to have surgery to mend the fracture. After the
surgery, his health declined quickly. In 2013, he was admitted to hospital, suffering
from pulmonary consolidation. On October 11th 2013, he fell ill at his son's home
and was rushed to the Bellevue Medical Center where sadly he died) b. November
1st 19212014: Mats Rondin
(54)Swedish cellist
and composer; he appeared as a soloist with multiple Swedish symphony orchestras,
but also with leading orchestras in Denmark, France, Germany, Czechoslovakia,
Norway, Iceland, Italy and the Netherlands. He also appeared on numerous occasions
on radio and television, including at the live TV concert that inaugurated the
new concert hall in Malmö from 1982-1985. He was also a principal cellist
in the Malmö Symphony Orchestra from 1985-1996, as well as the Swedish Radio
Symphony Orchestra. From 2005 until his death in 2014, he was professor of cello
at the Malmö Academy of Music. He was elected in 2003 as Member of the Royal
Academy of Music. (sadly Mats died from a heart attack)
b. September 21st 1960. 2014: Anita Cerquetti
(83)Italian soprano born in Montecosaro,
she made her operatic debut in Spoleto in 1951 as Aida. She sang all over Italy,
notably in Florence as Noraime in Les Abencérages under Carlo Maria Giulini
in 1956,in the Italian version "Gli Abencerragi", and as Elvira in Ernani
under Dimitri Mitropoulos in 1957. Her Teatro alla Scala debut was in 1958 as
Abigaille in Nabucco. She also sang on RAI in a wide variety of roles, such as
Elcia in Mosè in Egitto, Mathilde in Guglielmo Tell and Elena in I vespri
siciliani. In 1955 she debuted in USA at the Lyric Opera of Chicago as Amelia
in Un ballo in maschera. She made only two commercial recordings, both for Decca
in 1957, a recital of Italian opera arias and a complete La Gioconda with Mario
del Monaco, Ettore Bastianini, Giulietta Simionato and Cesare Siepi under the
incisive baton of Gianandrea Gavazzeni (?) b.
April 13th 1931.2016:
Gurcharan Virk (48)
Punjabi writer, director, lyricist and producer born in Faridkot district of the
Indian state of Punjab and completed his post graduate degree from Punjab University,
Chandigarh. He started his career in 1983 by recording a song. Some of the movies
on which he worked as associate director include, Marhi Da Deeva and Udeekan Saun
Diyan. He directed the television films of Fauji Di Family, Bapu Di Pension, Police
Naaka, Attro Diyan Chugliyan, Maawan De Dil, Sardaari and Bapu Da Viah. He also
directed serials, commercials, video albums, documentaries and films
(sadly he died of a heart attack)b. 1968.2016:
Peter Reynolds (58)Welsh
composer born and studied in Cardiff and known for founding PM Music Ensemble.
His music has been performed in Britain, Europe and the USA and broadcast on Radio
3, BBC Wales and BBC Television. In addition, he was recognised by Guinness World
Records as having written with writer Simon Rees the shortest opera on Earth,
"Sands of Time"; a three-minute and thirty-four second long piece. Peter
was the artistic director of the Lower Machen Festival in Monmouthshire from 1998
to 2009. Recent works include Footsteps Quiet in the Shadows for the 2012 Monmouth
Festival and Moon-ark, for cello and string orchestra, for the 2013 Lower Machen
Festival. Peter had recently taken over as the lead composer of the Young Composer
of Dyfed scheme, with connections to dozens of schools and other organisations
across Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion & Pembrokeshire. (?)b. 1958.

October 12th.
1956: Don Lorenzo Perosi (83)Italian composer born at Tortona, Piedmont;he was the most prolific and significant
Italian composer of sacred music at the turn of the 20th century
and the only member of the Giovane Scuola who did not write opera. In the late
1890s, while he was still only in his 20s, he
was an internationally celebrated
composer of sacred music, especially large-scale oratorios including La Passione
di Cristo, La Trasfigurazione di Cristo, La
Risurrezione di Lazzaro, La Risurrezione di Cristo, Il Natale del Redentore, La
Strage degli Innocenti, Il Giudizio Universale and Transitus Animae. His masses
and mottetti include, Missa In Honorem Ss. Gervasii et Protasii, Missa "Te
Deum Laudamus", Missa Eucharistica, Missa [Prima] Pontificalis, Messa da
Requiem, Missa a Tre Voci Maschili (Missa Cerviana), Missa "Benedicamus Domino",
Missa Secunda Pontificalis, and Melodie Sacre (eight volumes).He also wrote secular music.. symphonic poems, chamber music,
and concertos,as well as writing for the organ. According
to musicologist Arturo Sacchetti's estimate, Lorenzo composed an incredable 3,000
- 4,000 works (?)b. December
21st 1872.1971: Gene Vincent/Vincent Eugene
Craddock (36)American singer born in Norfolk, Virginia, a pioneer
of rock 'n' roll and rockabilly. His 1956 top 10 hit with his Blue Caps, "Be-Bop-A-Lula,"
is considered a significant early example of rockabilly. Other hits included "Race
With The Devil", "Bluejean Bop", "Lotta
Lovin'", "Bluejean Bop"
and "Woman
Love". Vincent also became one
of the first rock stars to star in a film, 'The Girl Can't Help It' together with
Jayne Mansfield. On April 16, 1960, while on tour in the UK, Gene , Eddie Cochran,
and songwriter Sharon Sheeley were involved in a high-speed traffic accident in
a private hire taxi. Gene broke his ribs and collarbone and further damaged his
weakened leg, Sharon suffered a broken pelvis, but tragically Wddie Cochran, who
had been thrown from the vehicle, suffered serious brain injuries and died the
next day. He was the first inductee into the Rockabilly Hall of Fame upon its
formation in 1997. The following year he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall
of Fame and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1749 N. Vine St. He is
a member of the Rock and Roll and Rockabilly halls of fame (he
sadly died from a ruptured stomach ulcer while visiting his father in California)
b. February 11th 1935.1978: Nancy Spungen
(20)American paranoid schizophrenic girlfriend
of Sex Pistol's Sid Vicious. Nancy left home at age 17 and moved to New York City.
She followed bands such as Aerosmith, The New York Dolls and The Ramones. In 1977,
at the age of 19, she moved to London, allegedly to win over Jerry Nolan of the
New York Dolls and The Heartbreakers, but met The Sex Pistols instead. When lead
singer Johnny Rotten rejected her, she pursued bassist Sid Vicious and they soon
moved in together.During a tumultuous 23-month relationship, Nancy and Sid became
addicted to heroin and other drugs. Sid was already an abuser of multiple drugs
before he met Nancy, but many sources claim she introduced him to heroin; other
sources claim that he had begun to use speed with his mother at an early age and
then got into heroin after meeting Nancy. (she was found
sprawled on the bathroom floor of their hotel room clad in a black bra and panties.
She had bled to death from a single stab wound to the abdomen, later traced to
a knife owned by Sid Vicious. Sid died of an overdose while on bail before he
could be tried for murder) b. February 27th 1958.1985: Ricky Wilson (32) American self-taught
guitarist born in Athens, Georgia, he was the original guitarist and a founding
member of the B-52's along with his sister, Kate Pierson, Keith Strickland and
Fred Schneider. They played their first gig in 1977 at a Valentine's Day party
for friends. The band's quirky take on the New Wave sound of their era was a combination
of dance and surf music set apart by the unusual guitar tunings used by Ricky.
He
also played the guitar on the song "Breakin' In My Heart" on the 1979
self-titled album by Tom Verlaine (Ricky
sadly died prematurely from complications due to aids)
b. March 19th 1953.1989:Carmen Cavallaro
(76)American pianist born in New York, who established himself as
one of the most accomplished and admired light music pianists of his generation.
In 1933, he joined the jazz band of Al Kavelin, where he quickly became the featured
soloist. After four years he switched to a series of other big bands, including
Rudy Vallee's in 1937. He also worked briefly with Enrico Madriguera and Abe Lyman.Starting
his own band, a five-piece combo, in St. Louis in 1939, his popularity grew and
his group expanded into a 14-piece orchestra, releasing some 19 albums for Decca
over the years(Sadly
passed to cancer)b.
May 6th 1913.1997: John Denver/Henry John
Deutschendorf Jr (53)American singer-songwriter and guitarist born
in Roswell, New Mexico. At the age of 12, he received a 1910 Gibson acoustic jazz
guitar from his grandmother and he taught himself to play it well enough to play
locally as a teenager in groups such as the folk-music group "The Alpine
Trio". John went on to become one of the most popular acoustic artists of
the 1970s in terms of record sales, he recorded and released around 300 songs,
about 200 of which he composed himself. He was named Poet Laureate of Colorado
in 1977. Songs such as "Leaving on a Jet Plane", "Take Me Home,
Country Roads", "Rocky Mountain High", "Sunshine on My Shoulders",
"Thank God I'm a Country Boy", "Annie's Song" and "Calypso"
attained worldwide popularity. Among his varied projects and interests, John founded
his own environmental group, the Windstar Foundation and had a keen interest in
solutions to world hunger. He visited Africa during the 1980s to witness first-hand
the suffering caused by starvation and to work with African leaders toward solutions.In
1983 and 1984, John hosted the annual Grammy Awards. In the 1983 finale, he was
joined on stage by folk-music legend Joan Baez with whom he led an all-star version
of "Blowing in the Wind" and "Let The Sunshine In". John has
recieved 9 awards in honoor of his music, including 2 grammies and an Emmy, and
was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1996 (tragically
killed when the light aircraft he was piloting crashed into Monterey Bay, California)b. December 31st 1943.2001:
Dan Del Santo (50)American steel guitarist, guitarist, singer-songwriter;
having made his presence felt on Texas' outlaw country scene during the late '70s,
he had left country music by the mid-'80s and launched an Afro-Cuban band, the
Professors of Pleasures. Latin music remained his prime genre as he went on to
host a third-world music show for an Austin-based radio station. Dan relocated
to Oaxaca, Mexico, where he formed new band, Perros del Sol, and continued to
perform his original songs in the Spanish language (esophageal bleeding)
b. September
4th 19512002:
Ray Conniff (85)American trombonist,
strings, orchestra director; after serving in the U.S. Army in World War II, where
he worked under Walter Schumann, he was hired by Mitch Miller, then head of A
& R at Columbia Records, as their home arranger, working with several artists
including Rosemary Clooney, Marty Robbins, Frankie Laine, Johnny Mathis, Guy Mitchell
and Johnnie Ray. He wrote a top 10 arrangement for Don Cherry's "Band of
Gold" in 1955, a single that sold more than a million copies. Among
the hit singles he backed with his orchestra (and eventually with a male chorus)
were "Yes Tonight Josephine" and "Just Walkin' in the Rain"
by Johnnie Ray; "Chances Are" and "It's Not for Me to Say"
by Johnny Mathis; "A White Sport Coat" and "The Hanging Tree"
by Marty Robbins; "Moonlight Gambler" by Frankie Laine; "Up Above
My Head," a duet by Frankie Laine and Johnnie Ray; and "Pet Me, Poppa"
by Rosemary Clooney. He also backed up the albums Tony by Tony Bennett, Blue Swing
by Eileen Rodgers, Swingin' for Two by Don Cherry, and half the tracks of The
Big Beat by Johnnie Ray. Between
1957 and 1968, he had 28 albums in the American Top 40, the most famous one being
Somewhere My Love (1966). He topped the album list in Britain in 1969 with His
Orchestra, His Chorus, His Singers, His Sound, an album which was originally published
to promote his European tour (Germany, Austria, Switzerland) in 1969. He also
was the first American popular artist to record in Russiain 1974 he recorded
Ray Conniff in Moscow with the help of a local choir. He sold about 70 million
albums worldwide and continued recording and performing until his death (died
after a fall and hitting his head) b. November 6th 1916.2005: Baker Knight(72)American
songwriter, singer and guitarist, born
in Birmingham, Alabama and attended the University of Alabama, where he wrote
music in his spare time. In 1956 he founded a rockabilly group, The Knightmares,
releasing their debut single, "Bop Boogie to the Blues", that same year.
Baker moved to Hollywood in 1958, he wrote the song "Lonesome Town"and
other hits for Rick Nelson. He wrote "Just Relax", which he released
as a solo single in 1959, with Cochran on guitar. He also wrote the song "The
Wonder of You" followed by songs for Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, West Coast
Pop Art Experimental Band, Ernest Ashworth, Hank Williams, Jr., Jerry Lee Lewis,
Dave & Sugar, and Mickey Gilley among others. Baker's last solo release was
"If Only", in 1977 (?)b.
July 4th 1933. 2006: Al Thompson (59)American musician, former Motown drummer and longtime drummer for Gladys Knight
& The Pips, Stevie Wonder, Natalie Cole (?)b.????2009: Dickie Peterson (63)American singer
and bass guitarist born in Grand Forks, ND;
although his first instrument had been drums
he has played electric bass since the age of thirteen,
citing Otis Redding as an influence to his music.
He moved Davis CA, then to San Francisco in the early 60s. After playing in the
band Andrew Staples & The Oxford Circle, he helped form the power trio Blue
Cheer, with himself as lead singer/bassist, Leigh Stephens as
guitarist and Eric Albronda on the
drums, Eric was soon replaced by Paul Whaley. Their first hit
in 1968 was a cover version of Eddie
Cochran's "Summertime Blues" from their debut album Vincebus Eruptum.
The single peaked at No.14 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and the album peaked
at No.11 on the Billboard 200 chart. Dickie spent much of his last two decades
based in Germany, playing with Blue Cheer and other groups including
Mother Ocean in the early 2000s,
the Hank Davison Band and as an acoustic duo with Hank Davison under the name
"Dos Hombres" (Dickie sadly died while fighting liver cancer) b.
September 12th 1946.2009:
Ian Wallace OBE (90) British bass-baritone opera and concert
singer, he made his operatic debut with the New London Opera Company at the Cambridge
Theatre, London, in 1946, as Schaunard in La bohème. Throughout the 50s,
he was a feature at Glyndebourne, specializing in basso buffo roles, notably Dr
Bartolo in The Barber of Seville. In the 1960s and 1970s he was closely associated
with Scottish Opera. From the early 1960s to the 1980s, he performed a one-man
show, featuring operatic excerpts, ballads and comic songs. He was particularly
noted for his performances of the music of Flanders and Swann, and "The Hippopotamus"
became his signature tune. He also acted occasionally on TV and in films, including
Tom Thumb, made in 1958. Ian
was well known for having been a panellist throughout the 27-year run of the radio
panel game My Music, not missing a single episode of more than 520 that were broadcast
(died after long illness)b.
July
10th 1919.2011: Joel "Taz" DiGregorio (67)
American keyboardist born
in Worcester, Massachusetts; in his mid teens he started out with the group Paul
Chaplan and the Emeralds, best known for their 1959 hit "Shortnin' Bread".
The group disbanded in 1961 and Joel found other gigs including playing in a lounge
band in Florida. In 1964, aged 20, he met and joined Charlie Daniels who at that
time was in a band called the Jaguars. After a stint in the army Joel
resumed his longtime membership
in The Charlie Daniels Band. In 1979,
their signature hit "The Devil Went Down To Georgia" reached No.3 in
US Pop Charts was co-written by Joel and was honored with a Grammy Award for Best
Country Vocal Performance in 1979. In addition to his work with Daniels, he recorded
2 solo projects: 2008's
"Midnight in Savannah"
and "Shake Rag" also in 2008 (tragically
Joel died in a car crash
on his way to meet Charles Daniel's tour bus)
b. January 8th 1944.2012:
Geraldine Mucha (95)Scottish classical music
composer of Orcadian descent;
born in London, she studied music first with her father and later she studied
composition with Benjamin Dale at the Royal Academy of Music. After 1945 she lived
in Prague with her husband, Czech writer Jirí Mucha, son of Art Nouveau
painter and decorative artist Alphonse Mucha. She has composed numerous musical
works, from ballets to large-scale orchestral pieces to chamber pieces to variations
on folk songs. Following her husband's death in 1991, she and their son John founded
the Mucha Foundation to continue Jirí's work protecting and promoting Alphonse
Muchas legacy(Geraldine
died suddenly and peacefully at home after a dinner party in her honour)
b. July 5th 1917.2013: Lin Youren (75)Chinese a noted player of the Chinese musical instrument guqin, born in
Shanghai, but was brought up in nearby Nanjing. Early on in his musical development,
Lin studied with Liu Shaochun and enterd the Shanghai Conservatory of Music in
1958 to study the guqin. He was influenced by the playing styles of Liu Jingshao,
Gu Meigeng, Shen Caonong, and Wei Zhongle in particular. Lin gave guqin recitals
in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan, France, the United Kingdom and the United States
(?) b. 1938.2016:
Robert Bateman (80) American songwriter, record producer born in in
Chicago; he was a founding members and bass singer of the Satintones formed in
1957. The group made their first recordings for Motown in 1959; Robert did additional
work for Motown as a backing singer and engineer. He was responsible for acquiring
Motown's first recording equipment, a tape recorder discarded by radio station
WJLB. In 1961 he formed a writing and production partnership with Brian Holland,
credited as "Brianbert". They worked with Georgia Dobbins of the Marvelettes
to rewrite "Please Mr. Postman", after which they produced the Marvelettes'
recording of the song, which became the first Motown song to reach No.1 on the
Billboard Hot 100 pop singles chart. He also co-wrote and co-produced the Marvelettes'
follow-ups, including "Twistin' Postman" and "Playboy", and
conducted the audition that led to Motown signing Mary Wells. After leaving Motown
in 1962 he joined the Correc-Tone label and in 1963 he moved to New York City
to work for Capitol Records, where he collaborated with musicians including Florence
Ballard and Wilson Pickett, and co-wrote "If You Need Me". In later
years, he was a frequent attendee at Motown reunion events, and was inducted into
the Rhythm and Blues Hall of Fame in Dearborn, Michigan early in 2016. (sadly
died of a heart attack) b. April 30th 1936.2016:
William Nelson "Sonny" Sanders (77) American songwriter and
record producer born in Chicago. He made his first recording in 1955, on "Tears
of Love" / "Roxanna" by Sax Kari and the Qualtones, before becoming
a founding member of the Satintones in Detroit in 195. They became the first vocal
group signed to Motown, and released their first record, "Going to the Hop"
/ "Motor City" in 1960. Sanders also worked as a backing singer at Motown,
on such records as Marv Johnson's "You Got What It Takes" and Barrett
Strong's "Money (That's What I Want)". He left Motown in 1961, but continued
to work as an arranger on records including the Reflections "Just Like Romeo
and Juliet". In 1965 he was recruited to work with record producer Carl Davis
in Chicago, and arranged songs for Mary Wells, Edwin Starr's "Agent Double-O-Soul",
and Jackie Wilsons "Higher and Higher", and "I Get the Sweetest
Feeling". Other artists with whom he worked, notably at Brunswick Records,
included Gene Chandler, the Chi-Lites, and Tyrone Davis. With Eugene Record, he
co-wrote "Am I the Same Girl", "If You Need Me". In the 1970s,
he worked with Chubby and the Turnpikes, who later became Tavares; and the band
Manchild, who included the musician Babyface. In 1998 he co-produced Eugene Record's
last album, Let Him In. He also set up a gospel music publishing
company, 'Joy Over One'
(?)b. August
6th 1939.October 13th. 1974:
Ed Sullivan (73)American
TV host, band leader born in New York City; former boxer, sportswriter, theatre
columnist for The New York Graphic and New York Daily News, show business news
radio
broadcaster, took on yet another medium
in 1933 by writing and starring in the film Mr. Broadway, which has him guiding
the audience around New York nightspots to meet entertainers and celebrities.
Ed soon became a powerful starmaker in the entertainment world himself. In '48,
the CBS network hired Ed to do a weekly Sunday night TV variety show, Toast of
the Town, which later became The Ed Sullivan Show,
famous for introducing new musical acts.
Debuting in Sunday June 20th 1948, the show was broadcast from CBS Studio 50,
at 1697 Broadway, at 53rd Street, in New York City, which in 1967 was renamed
the Ed Sullivan Theatre, and is now the home of The Late Show with David Letterman.
The last Ed Sullivan show telecast No.1068, was on March 28th 1971 with guests
Melanie, Joanna Simon, Danny Davis and the Nashville Brass, and Sandler and Young.
He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6101 Hollywood Blvd
(sadly died of esophageal cancer)b. September 28th
1901.1987: Kishore
Kumar/Abhas Kumar Ganguly (58)Indian
film playback singer and actor who also worked as lyricist, composer, producer,
director, screenwriter and scriptwriter. Kishore sang in many Indian languages
including Bengali, Hindi, Marathi, Assamese, Gujarati, Kannada, Bhojpuri, Malayalam
and Oriya. He can be heard solo or collaborating with other artists on hundreds
of tracks. Kishore also starred in many films including New
Delhi, Aasha, Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi, Half Ticket, and Padosan (?)
b. August 4th 1929.2000:
Britt Woodman (80)American jazz
trombonist best known for his work with Duke Ellington and Charles Mingus; he
first worked with Phil Moore and Les Hite. After service in World War II he played
with Boyd Raeburn before joining with Lionel Hampton in 1946. In the 1950s
he worked with Duke Ellington. As a member of the Duke's band he can be heard
on The Complete Porgy and Bess, Such Sweet Thunder, Ella Fitzgerald Sings the
Duke Ellington Songbook, Black, Brown, and Beige and Indigos albums.In
1960 he moved on from Ellington to work in a pit orchestra. Later he worked with
Mingus and can be heard on the 1963 album Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus.
In the 1970s he led his own octet and worked with Toshiko Akiyoshi (?)
b. June 4th 19202001: Peter Doyle (52)Australian
pop singer and songwriter born in Melbourne; he started his career at the age
of 9 appearing regular
over 5 years on a children's
television talent show Swallow's Juniors. From 1965 to 1967 he released ten singles
in Australia, including a cover of Conway Twitty's 'Speechless (The Pick Up)',
and Solomon Burke's 'Stupidity'. May 1968 saw him join the
vocal trio 'The Virgil Brothers', but after relocating to England they spit up
and Peter joined the 3rd and most successful line up of the New Seekers recording
hits such as "What Have They Done To My Song Ma", "Never Ending
Song of Love" and "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing". In 1972
they came second representing the UK, in the Eurovision Song Contest with the
song "Beg, Steal or Borrow". Peter resumed
his solo career in 1973, returning to Australia in 1981 to join the band Standing
Room Only. The follinging year he moved to America to work with the group Regis
for the next five years. Back in Australia
he regularly performed on the club circuit. (sadly
lost to throat cancer) b. July 28th 1949.2009: Al Martino/Alfred Cini (82)American singer and actor; after servicing in the US Navy in WW II,
including being a part of the Iwo Jima invasion where he was wounded, inspired
by Al Jolson and Perry Como, he started his singing career, performing in local
nightclubs for a time, before moving to New York in 1948. He went on to win first
place on Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts television program, thanks to a rendition
of Como's "If," this led to a recording contract with the Philadelphia
based independent label, BBS. Al had a string of hit singles and albums that stretched
from the early 1950s all the way into the mid 1970s. His single "Here in
My Heart" was No.1 in the first ever UK Singles Chart, published by the New
Musical Express on November 14, 1952, putting him into the Guinness Book of World
Records, it remained in the top position for nine weeks. One of his most successful
hits was "Spanish Eyes", achieving several gold and platinum discs for
sales. As well as his singing career, Al played the role of Johnny Fontane in
the 1972 film The Godfather, as well as singing the film's theme, Speak Softly
Love (Love Theme from The Godfather). He played the same role in The Godfather
Part II and The Godfather Part III, as well as The Godfather Trilogy: 1901-1980
(died at his home in Springfield, Pennsylvania, 6 days after
his 82nd birthday) b. October 7th 1927.2010: Kostas Kafasis (70) Greek actor and
singer (died after battling cancer)b.
19402010: Marzieh/Ashraf os-Sadat Mortezai
(86) Iranian singer, Tehran-born singer of Persian traditional music.
Known as the first lady of Persian music, she has been one of the most outstanding
figures the artistic society of Iran has ever witnessed. After the Islamic Revolution
of 1979 she no longer appeared onstage and eventually would leave her homeland
in the 1990s due to the political repression. She joined the Mujaheddin-e Khalq
organisation (MKO). Soon
after she left the country, she performed several concerts in Los Angeles, California
in 1995, and later at the Earl's Court, London in 1996. Her hits include Az Atash
Gozashtam, Dokhtare koli, Khoda koneh keh khabam, Bia Bia Benshin, Golhaaye Bahari,
Ze Man Ay Negaaram, Soozeh Del, and Mayzadeh to mention a few (sadly
died of cancer) b.
19262010: Huddy
Combs/Huddy
6/Andre Hudson(?)
American rap artist and promoter; he was an original member of the rap group Harlem
World founded by Mase. The group consisted of six members Huddy, Mase's sister
Baby Stase, Blinky Blink, Cardan, Meeno and Loon. They released their first and
only album, The Movement on March 9th 1999, it reached No.11 on the Billboard
200 and went gold. Despite the success of the album, the group disbanded later
in the year with their last appearance being Mase's "From Scratch" on
his second album.
Huddy became a fixture on New York's party scene promoting 100s of high-profile
events. Although Huddy did appeared
on Ray
Benzino's 2003 anti-Eminem mixtape
Die Another Day: Flawless Victory, as well as his album Arch Nemesis in 2005.
In hip-hop circles, he is well known as a close associate of Cam'ron. In 2005,
Cam'ron credited his childhood friend Huddy
with saving his life when he was shot two times while leaving a party during the
Howard University homecoming weekend in Washington, D.C. (tragically died when
his car collided with a truck in New York, on the George Washington bridge)
b. ????2010: "General"
Norman Johnson (67) American
R&B singer
songwriter and record producer, born in Norfolk,
Virginia. He began singing in his church choir at the age of six. His recording
debut came six years later on Atlantic Records, with his group the Humdingers,
although the tracks remain unreleased. In 1961, and following a change in name
to The Showmen, he and the group issued the single "It Will Stand."
The track was a chart hit in both 1961 and 1964, they split up in 1968.Guided
by Holland-Dozier-Holland, Norman recruited Danny Woods (ex-The Showmen), Harrison
Kennedy, and Eddie Curtis and created Chairmen of the Board. Their debut single,
"Give Me Just a Little More Time", a No.3 hit in the US Billboard R&B
chart in 1969. Further hits included "(You've Got Me) Dangling on a String"
and "Everything's Tuesday". Norman started a songwriting career with
"Pay to the Piper," another hit for Chairmen of the Board, he wrote
most of the band's material. Other songs he penned include the Grammy Award winning
"Patches" for Clarence Carter, "Want Ads", "Stick Up,"
and "One Monkey Don't Stop No Show" and "Bring the Boys Home"
for Freda Payne. Chairmen of the Board's popularity diminshed in the middle of
the 1970s, although Johnson and Woods remained together re-billed as the Chairmen.
He went on to work the beach music circuit, and became beach music icon. In 1993,
Norman and Woods released an album, What Goes Around Comes Around. In recognition
of the contribution that Norman had made to American popular music, the Virginia
General Assembly designated June 9th 2001 as General Johnson Day in Virginia (?)
b. May 23rd 1943.2011:
Pavlina Nikaj (80)Albanian
singer born in Korca, he sang on Radio
Korca in the mid to late 40s
and in 1950 he was appointed a singer in the Army Ensemble. After which in 1957
he became a professional singer in the Estrada Theater of Tirana, where he stayed
nearly 20 years. He was considered a "pioneer" of easy interpretation
of the Albanian music with songs such as "The Paths of Happiness", "Featureless
Forget", "My Song Dedicated To You", "Among The Crop Have
a Point" among many others. Pavlina was decorated by the President of Albania
with the command "Frashëri", the silver, in 2005 (?)b. May
15th 1931.2011:
Chris Doig (63) New Zealand opera singer and sports administrator,
in 1972 he won New Zealand's Mobil Song Quest and subsequently became principal
tenor at the Vienna State Opera. Later in his career he was appointed chief executive
of New Zealand Cricket and was a member of the New Zealand Rugby Union board.
Chris
was awarded an OBE for his service to the arts in 1992, and in June 2011 was made
a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit. (sadly
Chris died while fighting bowel
cancer)
b. April 4th 1948.2013: Tommy Whittle (87)British jazz
saxophonist born in Grangemouth, Scotland, he started playing clarinet at the
age of 12 before taking up the tenor saxophone at 13. He moved to Chatham, Kent,
at 16 and in 1943 started playing in Claude Giddins'
dance-hall band. In the 1950s he joined Cyril Stapleton's BBC Show Band where
he became featured as a soloist in nationwide broadcasts. In April 1954 he formed
his own quintet with Harry Klein and Dill Jones, later touring with a ten-piece
band for 14 months. He then led various small groups as well as doing jazz club
work. In 1955 he was voted Britain's top tenor-sax player in the New Musical Express
poll and topped the Melody Maker poll the following year. He spent a long period
with the Jack Parnell ATV Orchestra and later with Laurie Johnson's London Big
Band, while he continued to play regularly at jazz clubs. During this time he
also recorded with Benny Goodman. During the 1980s and 1990s, as well as an enduring
commitment to jazz, he was also in demand as a session musician and often appeared
in the Ted Heath Band. In July 2005 Tommy was awarded the prestigious medal of
the Worshipful Company of Musicians for lifetime achievement in British jazz.
His last few gigs included the Bridgewater Hall in Manchester in October 2012
and with Ray McVay's tribute Glenn Miller Orchestra at the Wolverhampton Grand
Theatre in July 2013 (sadly Tommy
died from
pneumonia on his birthday while holidaying
in Spain) b. October 13th 1926.2013: Angela Moldovan (86)Romanian singer and actress born in Chisinau, in present-day
Moldova; she was a singer of popular music and also an accomplished opera singer
and an actress, known for her roles in the musical Veronica and its sequel Veronica
se întoarce(sadly Angela died of a cardiac
arrest) b. September 19th 1927. 2014:
Mark Bell (43)English
musician and electronic house music producer born in Lofthouse, West Yorkshire.
As well as being a member of the pioneering electronic music group LFO and he
also recorded under the aliases Counterpoint,
Fawn, Clark
& Lofthouse, Clark, and Speed Jack. He produced Björk's 19 97 album Homogenic,
a collaboration that continued until his death. He was involved in her tours in
1998 and the 20072008 tour for her album Volta. He also worked with the
likes of Depeche Mode producing their 2001 album Exciter; Deltron
3030and
others (sadly Mark's untimely death
was brought about from complications after recent surgery)
b. 1971?2015:
Josef Wilhelm "Papa Joe" Bushman (90)German jazz pianist and restaurateur born in Cologne. He
was the founder of two famous venues,
"Papa Joe's pub Klimper-box" and "Papa
Joe's Jazz Lounge Em Streckstrump", where many famous names have performed
in around 16,000 concerts that have been played there over the last 41 years.
(?) b. April 6th 1925.2015: Skatemaster Tate/Gerry Hurtado (56)American singer
and television show host, born in LA. He attended a broadcasting trade school,
and applied his trade by working as a DJ in punk rock clubs. He took an interest
in the newly growing skate rock movement, and recorded his first song, Skaterock
Rap, in his friend's basement in 1983. He also took part in skate contests in
both LA and New York. In the mid-80s, he toured as an opening act for the all-girl
thrash band Screaming Sirens, and his music was showing up in skate videos. He
released his first album, "A Way Of Life", in 1988, and the song "La
Cumbre" appeared on the Powell Peralta video Public Domain during a scene
where the team tours Mexico. Gerry originally wrote the song as a tribute to a
local skater hangout. He later became the Host of SK8-TV, a half hour television
show on Nickelodeon, with co-host Matthew Lynn. Since
his departure from SK8-TV, Gerry has recorded with such acts as Porno For Pyros
and was a producer for the acid jazz group The Stone Boners. His song "Jolt"
was featured in the 1991 comedy What About Bob? (sadly
died while fighting liver cancer) b.
September 9th 1959.2016:
Gerhard Wimberger (93)Austrian composer who studied at the
Mozarteum in Salzburg. After serving in the army in WWII, he worked as vocal coach
at the Vienna Volksoper, then as conductor at the Salzburg Theatre, before becoming
a teacher for conducting and composition at the Mozarteum. also served as member
of the directory of the Salzburg Festival, and as president of the Austrian Composers'
Association AKM (?)b. August
30th 1923.2016: Bhumibol
Adulyadej (88) Thai monarch, Rama IX, King Bhumibol the Great
King, the ninth monarch of Thailand from the Chakri Dynasty and saxophonist. Having
reigned since June 9th 1946, he was, at the time of his death, the world's longest-serving
head of state and the longest-reigning monarch in Thai history, serving for 70
years, 126 days. For
over six decades, His Majesty the King Bhumibol Adulyadej inspired, entertained
and encouraged the Thai people in countless ways. One of these is through music
and His Majestys songs, ranging from jazz to classical to patriotic anthems,
which have been performed not just in Thailand but internationally by some of
the worlds leading musicians and orchestras (sadly
died after a long illness) b. June 9th 1946.

October
14th. 1959:
Alphonse
Trent (54) American
jazz pianist; he led one of the most fabled of the territory bands, an outfit
that recorded just eight titles, but was legendary. He led his first band in the
early '20s, and in 1924 he played with Eugene Cook's Synco Six. He then took over
leadership of the band, which played until 1934, playing mostly in the American
South and Midwest, as well as on steamboats. He left music in the mid-1930s but
returned with another band in 1938. His sidemen included Terrence Holder, Alex
Hill, Stuff Smith, Snub Mosley, Charlie Christian, Sweets Edison, Mouse Randolph,
and Peanuts Holland (?)b.
August 24th 1905.1977: Bing Crosby/Harry Lillis Crosby (74)American singer, actor, singer of "White
Christmas", and starred in the "On the Road" films with Bob Hope.
One of the first multimedia stars, from 1934 to 1954 he was very successful across
record sales, radio ratings and motion picture grosses. Bing and his musical acts
influenced male singers of the era that followed him, including Perry Como, Frank
Sinatra, and Dean Martin. In 1926, while singing at Los Angeles Metropolitan Theatre,
Bing and his vocal duo partner Al Rinker caught the eye of Paul Whiteman, arguably
the most famous bandleader at the time. Hired for $150 a week, they made their
debut on December 6th 1926 at the Tivoli Theatre in Chicago and their first recording
was, "I've Got The Girl," with Don Clark's Orchestra. On September 2nd
1931, Crosby made his solo radio debut. In 1931, he signed with Brunswick Records
and recording under Jack Kapp and signed with CBS Radio to do a weekly 15 minute
radio broadcast; almost immediately he became a huge hit. His songs "Out
of Nowhere", "Just One More Chance", "At Your Command"
and "I Found a Million Dollar Baby (in a Five and Ten Cent Store)" were
among the the best selling songs of 1931. Bing's biggest musical hit was his recording
of Irving Berlin's "White Christmas", which he introduced through a
1942 Christmas-season radio broadcast and the movie Holiday Inn. According to
ticket sales, he is, at 1,077,900,000 tickets sold, the third most popular actor
of all time, behind Clark Gable and John Wayne. In 1962, Bing was the first person
to be recognized with the Grammy Global Achievement Award. He won an Academy Award
for Best Actor for his role as Father Chuck O'Malley in the 1944 motion picture
Going My Way. Bing is one of the few people to have three stars on the Hollywood
Walk of Fame and is a member of the National Association of Broadcasters Hall
of Fame in the radio division (He died of a heart attack on a golf course in Spain,
having just completed the 18th hole) b.
May 3rd 1903. 1985:
Emil Gilels (78)Soviet pianist; he was
the first Soviet artist to be allowed to travel extensively in the West. After
WW2, he toured Europe starting from 1947 as a concert pianist, and made his US
debut in 1955 playing Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 in Philadelphia. His
repertoire was vast, ranging from Scarlatti to Stravinsky. He played all the concertos
and sonatas of Beethoven, both concertos of Brahms, a large amount of Schumann
and Chopin, some Schubert, Liszt and many of the Russian composers from the 19th
and 20th centuries. The power and excitement that Emil generates in a live performance
can still be felt more than forty years later (he was killed
accidentally by the Russian doctor after a medical check-up)b.
October 19th 1916.1990:
Leonard Bernstein (72)American conductor, composer, author,
music lecturer and pianist. He was among the first conductors born and educated
in the USA to receive worldwide acclaim. He was probably best known to the public
as the longtime music director of the New York Philharmonic, for conducting concerts
by many of the world's leading orchestras, and for writing the music for West
Side Story, Candide, Wonderful Town, and On the Town. He was the first classical
music conductor to make numerous TV appearances between 1954-89. He also wrote
symphonies and other concert music (Leonard sadly died of
emphysema) b. August 25th 1918.1998: Frankie Yankovic
(83) American singer and accordian virtuoso;
America's undisputed Polka King, the first polka artist to score a million-selling
single with 1948's "Just Because", the first to perform on television,
and the first to win a Grammy for Best Polka Album
"70 Years of Hits", in 1986. Of Slovene descent, he came from South
Euclid, Ohio, he released over 200 recordings in his career. Frankie
seldom strayed from the Slovenian-style polka, but did record with Chet Atkins,
Don Everly, and did a version of the Too Fat Polka with comedian Drew
Carey. Frankie also had a long standing relationship with accordion virtuoso Joey
Miskulin
(sadly died from heart failure)b. July 15th 1915.2002:
Norbert Schultze (91)German
composer and pianist, most remembered for writing the famed WW II song, "Lili
Marlene", he also wrote the music for the Luftwaffe's unofficial anthem,
"Bomben auf Engelland"/Bombs on England. Educated in music in Cologne
and Munich, he became a theatrical musical director in Heidelberg. After WW2 he
worked as a bit-actor in two German movies including "Max und Moritz"
in 1956 and "Zu jung fuer die Liebe?" in 1961 and wrote numerous operas,
operettas such as Rain in Paris, musicals, ballets and "Max and Moritz",
and music for more than 50 movies, and songs. He also served on
the Executive Board of the German Society for Composing and Performing Music from
1973 to 1991, and in 1996, received its Ring of Honor for his contributions to
music(?)
b. January 26th 1911.2006:
Freddy Fender/Baldemar Huerta (69)American singer, songwriter
and guitarist; he was the first and biggest pioneer in Tex Mex music, and one
of the most important musicians in Tejano Music History, he is documented as The
First American Hispanic and Hispanic Rock & Roll Recording Artist In Anglo
Latino Musical History. He made himself a guitar at the age of six, at 10 he was
singing on local radio stations and winning talent competitions. Then at 16, he
joined the Marines for three years. After his discharge, he started playing Texas
honky tonks and dance halls. His big break came with Falcon Records in 1957, when
he recorded Spanish versions of Elvis Presley's "Don't Be Cruel" and
Harry Belafonte's "Jamaica Farewell." The recordings both reached No1
in Mexico and South America. He signed with Imperial Records in 1959, renaming
himself "Fender" after the brand of his electric guitar, and "Freddy",
well.. because it sounded good with Fender.In 1974, he recorded "Before The
Next Teardrop Falls" and on April 8, 1975, it reached the Number One spot
on Billboard's pop and county charts, the first time in history an artist's first
single reached Number One on both charts. With its success, he won the Academy
of Country Music's best new artist award. Throughout his long career Freddy has
appeared on 18 TV shows, in 8 films, 11 videos, and countless soundtracks, commercials,
shows, tributes and is a triple Grammy Award winner. He won his first shared Grammy
with the Texas Tornados, in 1990 for best Mexican-American performance for "Soy
de San Luis", his second shared Grammy came in with Los Super Seven in the
same category in 1998 for "Los Super Seven". Then in year 2002 he won
his own Grammy for Best Latin Pop Album in 2002 for "La Musica de Baldemar
Huerta." (lung cancer)
b. June 4th 1937.2007: Big Moe/Kenneth Moore
(33)American rapper born in Houston, known for a softer and slower
style than other Houston rappers, including a mixture of rapping and singing that
he called "rapsinging" as well as for his music that celebrated codeine-laced
syrup as a recreational drug. He began his career free styling on DJ Screw's mix
tapes before being signed to Wreckshop Records, releasing his debut album, City
of Syrup in 2000 (died after suffering a heart attack one
week earlier that left him in a coma) b. August 20th
1974. 2009: Johnny Jones (73)
American R&B guitarist and bandleader; born in Nashville, he moved to Chicago
in the '50s. Where he shared an apartment with harmonica player Walter McCollum.
Together they formed a small group, working regularly with Junior Wells and Freddy
King. Johnny moved back to Nashville in the early 1960s to become a session musician
and formed a band the Imperial Seven. Johnny and Jimi Hendrix once faced off in
a legendary guitar duel at the city's Club Baron in the early 1960s and he also
appeared alongside Jimi on the regional TV music series 'Night Train,' where Johnny
played in the House Band. In 1964, he assumed leadership of the King Casuals,
the band founded in 1962 by Jimi Hendrix and bassist Billy Cox in Clarksville,
he replaced Hendrix. They recorded a portfolio of singles in later years. The
most recent recording with his band was the 2001, Blues Is In the House. After
which he traveled and played in the UK 3 times, the last being in the spring of
2009. In the early 2000s, he and other players on the Jefferson Street scene were
held in the spotlight by the Night Train to Nashville: Music City Rhythm &
Blues, 19451970 exhibit at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum and
its accompanying double-album (Johnny was found dead in
his apartment)b. ??.19362011:
Chuck Ruff (60)American drummer born
in Reno, Nevada and went on to played in the rock group Sawbuck with Ronnie Montrose
and Bill Church from 19681970. Chuck and Montrose later joined Edgar Winter
with Dan Hartman to form The Edgar Winter Group in 1972. It was with this band
that he had his biggest successes: first with the album They Only Come Out at
Night-1973, featuring "Frankenstein" which reached No. 1 in the U.S.
in May 1973, and the top 15 single "Free Ride", which reached No. 14
that same year. The album Shock Treatment, which featured the song "Easy
Street", was also successful. In 1977, he joined Sammy Hagar and performed
on the albums Street Machine-1979 and Danger Zone-1979, including the song "Bad
Reputation" which is in the film Fast Times at Ridgemont High. In his later
years, Chuck continued performing music in Reno, Nevada with the Chuck Ruff Group
and his last project, Geezersläw (sadly Chuck has died after long illness)
b. May 25th 1951.2012:
B.B. Cunningham (70) American keyboardist, bassist and singer-songwriter,
born Blake Baker Cunningham Jr., in Jackson. At 14, he became the youngest member
of the local musicians union. He helped his father, crooner Buddy, run the family's
Cover Records label, for which he served as session player, producer and artist
in '50s and early '60s. In 1954, Sam Phillips of Sun Studio asked him to add some
percussion to a session by a young Elvis Presley. Blake also led the band the
Six OClock Boys and was a member of the touring version of Ronnie and the
Daytonas, known for the song G.T.O. The touring group became the Hombres,
which scored a No.12 Billboard hit in 1967 with the raw, edgy Let It Out
(Let It All Hang Out)" , which Blake co-wrote. The cult classic has since
been covered by John Mellencamp and used in the 2005 film Elizabethtown.
He later worked at the famed Sounds of Memphis Studio, until 1971, when he moved
to Los Angeles, where he served as chief engineer at Independent Recorders working
with Billy Joel, Elton John, Lou Rawls and others. Blake returned to Memphis launching
his own studio, and he also joined Jerry Lee Lewis band in 1997 in which
he was a member until his death. He released his solo album, Hangin
In, in 2003 and continued to play with and inspire local musicians. During
this time in Memphis, Blake also had a side job as a sucurity guard. (Blake
was tragically shot dead in his line of duty
as a sucurity guard) b. 1942 2014:
Isaiah "Ikey" Owens (38)American
keyboardist, born in Long Beach, CA; he notably performed as a member of Long
Beach Dub Allstars, but in 1998 it was an encounter with Cedric Bixler-Zavala
and Omar Rodríguez-López of At the Drive-In at a concert in Irvine
which proved fateful when in 1999 received an invitation to join the dub reggae
band De Facto and found himself touring Europe with Omar, Cedric, and Jeremy Ward.
Not long after that he was once again invited to join their new project, The Mars
Volta. Since then Ikey was notable for being the longest tenured member of the
Mars Volta outside of Bixler-Zavala and Rodriguez-Lopez, having continually recorded
and performed with the band since their 2001 inception. In 2012 he became part
of Jack White's backup band The Buzzards, playing keyboards, organ and piano.
He took part in the world tour in support of White's album Blunderbuss, and also
performed on White's second album, Lazaretto, and was in the middle of the supporting
tour of the album at the time of his death.(sadly Ikey died
of a heart attack)b. December 1st 1975. 2015: Luiz Carlos Miele (77)Brazilian music producer, TV director, singer and actor,
born in São Paulo; he became a radio actor at the age of 12, and began
his professional career as an announcer of the radio stations Excelsior, Tupi
and Nacional, before moving to Rio de Janeiro in 1959. Also in '59 that he met
Ronaldo Bôscoli, magazine reporter of Headline, lyricist and one of the
names involved in the dissemination of Bossa Nova, which was beginning to emerge.
Over time, Luiz and Bôscoli became one of the most successful partnerships
in the Brazilian show business and are responsible for producing and directing
many shows for artists like Simonal, Sergio Mendes, Sarah Vaughan and Roberto
Carlos, among many others Between 1970-74, the two also owned "Monsieur Pujol",
nightclub in Rio de Janeiro hosting artists such as Dione Warwick, Burt Bacharach,
Ivan Lins, Stevie Wonder and Marcel Marceau. For ten years plus, he was the official
host of Molière Theatre. Over his long busy career he has continually worked
in TV, films and radio. Among more recent activities, he recorded with Cauby Peixoto
and Elis Regina and introduced himself as a crooner of the Rio Jazz Orchestra.
In 2012, he participated in The Adventures of Agamemnon, the
reporter, Victor Lopez, and The Crashers, by Andrucha Waddington. In 2014, he
participated in the Famous dance in Domingão Faustão. (?) b.
May 31st 1938.2016:
Werner Lämmerhirt (67) German singer-songwriter
and guitarist in the contemporary folk music style. He sang and wrote in both
German and English, in a recording career that spanned more than three decades.
Born in Adlershof, East Berlin, but fled with his mother and sblings to West Berlin
in 1957. He took up the harmonica and bought his first guitar, a 12 string, when
he was 16. In 1967 he dropped out of school and, accompanied by just his guitar
and a sleeping bag, set out to travel around Scandinavia, England and the Netherlands;
he travelled around Europe for 3 years. He met Hannes Wader, who invited him to
collaborate with him in making the album "Ich hatte mir noch so viel vorgenommen"
and he worked as a session musician. In the winter of 1973-74, Werner recorded
his first solo album 'Ten Thousand Miles', which led to further and larger live
performances. He began to write his own songs at this time, and his second solo
album was released in 1975. He carried on writing, recording
and performing until recently
(?) b. March 17th 1949.October
15th. 1942:
Dame Marie Tempest DBE/Mary Susan Etherington (78) English
singer and actress known as the "queen of her profession". She
became the most famous soprano in late Victorian light opera and Edwardian musical
comedies. Later, she became a leading comic actress and toured widely in North
America and elsewhere. She was, at times, her own theatre manager during a career
spanning 55 years. Marie was also instrumental in the founding of the actors'
union Equity in England (?)b.
July 15th 1864.
1964: Cole Porter (73)American
singer, multi-musician, composer, songwriter born in Peru, Indiana, U.S. He e
learned the violin at age 6, the piano at 8, and wrote his first operetta at 10.
Cole wrote songs both words and music for over 30 stage and film musicals. His
works include the musical including "Kiss Me, Kate", "Du Barry
Was a Lady", "Gay Divorce" "Anything
Goes", "Paris",
"Fifty Million Frenchmen", "Can-Can",
and
"High
Society".
He has written songs persifically for greats such as Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly
among many others. Writing
and composing songs such as
"Begin the Beguine", "I Get a Kick Out of You", "I've
Got You Under My Skin", "In the Still of the Night", "Night
and Day", "At Long Last Love", "From
Alpha to Omega", "You
Never Know", "Let's Misbehave", "From Now On", "My
Heart Belongs to Daddy". He was one of the greatest contributors to the Great
American Songbook and Cole is one of the few Tin Pan Alley composers to have written
both lyrics and music for his songs (kidney failure)b. June 9th 1891.1966: Colette Bonheur/Colette Chailler (39)
Quebec Canadian singer born in Montreal, from 1954 to 1957, she worked with Jacques
Normand, Gilles Pellerin starring in the variety show 'Door Open' on the Radio-Canada,
and also sang in Montreal's top cabarets such as Cabaret Saint-Germain-des-Pres,
Continental Café, and Quebec Chez Gerard. In the fall of 1954 she again
worked with Jacques Normand, Gilles Pellerin, plus Normand Hudon, Pierre Theriault
and others at The Three Beavers, above the Café Saint-Jacques. Her rendition
of "Violets fields" won the prize in radio Canadian singing contest
in 1957. In 1961 she married the saxophonist Gerry Robinson, and they relocated
to the Bahamas(She
died in the Bahamas under mysterious circumstances)
b. September 20th 1927. 1980:
Bobby "Lester" Dallas (50)American
lead singer with the Moonglows, born in Louisville. Lester
and high school classmate Harvey Fuqua started singing at parties as a duo in
the 40s. They formed The Moonglows in 1951, originally calling themselves the
Crazy Sounds, but were renamed by disc jockey Alan Freed as the Moonglows. They
also cut some recordings as the Moonlighters. Their first major hit was the No.1
R&B "Sincerely" for Chess in 1954, which reached number 20 on the
pop charts. They enjoyed five more Top Ten R&B hits on from 1955 to 1958,
including "Most of All," "We Go Together," "See Saw,"
and "Please Send Me Someone to Love," as well as "Ten Commandments
of Love." The different styles defined the Moonglows two lead singers, Harvey
Fuqua favoured the up-tempo R&B/rock numbers while Lester sung more of the
romantic ballads. (sadly died after fighting cancer)b. January 13th 1930.1999:
Terry Gilkyson (83)
US singer, lyricist, composer; he wrote and recorded "The Cry
of the Wild Goose," which became a hit song for Frankie Laine in 1950, as
well as the 1953 hit song "Tell Me a Story" recorded by Jimmy Boyd and
Laine. In the 1956, he formed a group called The Easy Riders with Richard Dehr
and Frank Miller, having a major hit with "Marianne" selling in excess
of one million copies, earning a gold disc. The three also wrote "Memories
Are Made of This," which became a popular song in several versions, including
an adaptation for the 1956 Hungarian Revolution. Terry
also appeared in, as well as wrote songs for, the 1951 Western film Slaughter
Trail. In the 1960s, he left the group to work for the Walt Disney Studios, writing
music both for movies and the television series The Wonderful World of Disney
especially "The Scarecrow of Romney Marsh." In 1968 he was nominated
for an Academy Award for "The Bare Necessities" from the movie The Jungle
Book (died in Austin, Texas, while visiting family)
b. June 7th 1916.2004:
Dave Godin (68)English
writer, critic and founder of the record labels, Soul City and Deep Soul, born
in Rotherham, Sth Yorkshire, and who coined the term, Northern Soul. After working
in advertising, Dave founded the Tamla Motown Appreciation Society, and in time
was recruited by Berry Gordy to become Motown's consultant in the UK, setting
up its distribution through EMI. In 1966, with
colleague David Nathan and friend Robert Blackmore,
he founded Soul City, a record shop and label on which he released such then-obscure
soul classics. It was in their shop that Dave coined the term northern soul, a
description that he would popularise through his work as a music journalist. In
his career he also coined the term Deep Soul and he promoted the interests of
a large number of US musicians whose work had fallen out of favour in their home
country. In the mid 1990s he started to compile a series of CDs of rare and some
not so rare, recordings - "Dave Godin's Deep Soul Treasures" - for Ace
Records, which featured such artists as Loretta Williams, Eddie and Ernie, Jaibi,
Ruby Johnson and Jimmy and Louise Tig. The albums were greeted with universal
critical acclaim, and Dave described the series as the proudest achievement of
his life (sadly Dave died fighting lung cancer)b. June 21st 1936. 2008: Edie Adams (81) American
singer in Broadway and television making her Broadway debut in 1953, playing Rosalind
Russells sister in the Leonard Bernstein musical Wonderful Town".
She starred on Broadway in Wonderful Town in 1953 and in Li'l Abner in 1956, and
played the Fairy Godmother in Rodgers & Hammerstein's original 1957 Cinderella
broadcast. She also played "Miss Olsen" in the 1960 film The Apartment.
In 1962 she appeared on ABC with Duke Ellington. In 1963 she also began a variety
show, Heres Edie, in which she performed with the likes of Count
Basie and Sammy Davis Jr. The show received five Emmy nominations. In 2003, as
one of the last surviving headliners from the all-star movie, It's a Mad, Mad,
Mad, Mad World, Edie joined actors Marvin Kaplan and Sid Caesar at 40th anniversary
celebrations of the movie (sadly died from pneumonia and
cancer) b. April
16th 1927.2008:
Frankie Venom/Frank Kerr (51) Canadian lead vocalist, punk pioneer
and founding member of the
punk rock band Teenage Head, formed at Westdale High School in Hamilton,
Ontario in 1975. 1980's "Frantic City" was the band's breakthrough album,
producing the hit singles "Let's Shake" and "Somethin' On My Mind".
They toured to support the album, including opening the major Heatwave festival
in August. In June 1980 their performance at Toronto's Ontario Place sparked a
riot. The incident made headlines across the country, and led Ontario Place to
ban rock concerts for several years afterward. The band appeared, as themselves,
in the movie Class of 1984 and performed "Ain't Got No Sense". Frankie
left the band after the release of "Trouble in the Jungle", in
1985 (natural causes)
b. 1957.2011: Betty
Driver (91)English
singer, actress and 42 years as Coronation Street's Betty Turpin;
born
in Leicester, England, but at aged two Betty moved to West Didsbury, Manchester,
with her family. At the age of 8, pushed by her mother, she began performing professionally
with Terence Byron Repertory Theatre Company; singing for the BBC by the age of
10; and began touring across the UK in her first revue at the age of 12. Whilst
performing in London at the age of 14, Betty was spotted by the agent Bert Aza,
despite her young age, he booked her for the lead in a revival of Mr Tower Of
London, which had brought Gracie Fields to prominence 19 years earlier. When she
was still only 14, when she made her first record "Jubilee Baby", and
had another major success with "The Sailor with the Navy Blue Eyes"
and made several more hit records >>> READ
MORE <<<(sadly Betty has died from pneumonia)
b. May 20th 1920.2013:
Gloria Lynne/Gloria Alleyne (81) American
jazz vocalist born in New York City; as a young girl, she sang with the local
African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church Choir and at 15 won first prize at the
"Amateur Night" at the Apollo Theater. She recorded as part of such
groups as the Enchanters and the Dell-Tones in the 1950s and recorded as a soloist
under her birth name, though most of her work was released under her stage name.
During her 50 year career, she has worked with giants such as Ray Charles, Billy
Eckstine, Johnny Mathis, Ella Fitzgerald, Harry Belafonte, Quincy Jones, Bobby
Timmons, Philly Joe Jones and Harry "Sweets" Edison. Also she wrote
lyrics for Watermelon Man with Herbie Hancock and All Day Long
with Kenny Burrell.
On July 25th 1995, New York City proclaimed it Gloria Lynne Day;
in 1996 she received the International Women of Jazz Award and
in 1997 she was honored with a Pioneer Award by the Rhythm and Blues
Foundation. Other honors include the National Treasure Award from the Seasoned
Citizens Theatre Company in 2003; induction into the National Black Sports and
Entertainment Hall of Fame and the Living Legend Award from the State of Pennsylvania
in 2007 (sadly died of a heart attack)
b.November 23rd 1931.2013: Donald "Duck" Bailey Sr (80)American jazz drummer born in Philadelphia probably best known as the drummer
in the trio of jazz organist Jimmy Smith from 1956 to 1964 and also for his work
with The Three Sounds on Blue Note Records. He also worked as a sideman for some
of the most famous musicians in jazz including Sarah Vaughan, Carmen McRae, Hampton
Hawes, Sonny Rollins, Freddie Hubbard, and Red Mitchell. He also played with John
Coltrane in their early Philadelphia years. In the mid 70s, he moved to Japan
where he lived for six years and in 1978, released an album called "So In
Love" on Trio Records. This jazz album, featuring him playing harmonica,
received rave reviews and is a sought after jazz collectible. His last project
"Blueprints of Jazz Vol.3 featuring Donald Bailey" was issu d on the
Talking House record label and released in 2009 (?) b. March
26th 1933.2014:
Mile Krajina (90)Croatian
gusle player and traditional folk singer,
born in Oklaj in the Cetina region. He was influenenced at an early age
while in primary school by the poet-songwriter Andrija
Kacic Mioic. Mile performed at folk festivals and functions until his death(sadly died after a very short, but very severe illness)
b. 1923.2014: Ralph Fontenot (55)American rubboard playerand veteran member, with the Louisiana
based Zydec band, Terrance Simien and the
Zydeco Experience, that won two Grammy Awards,
including the first ever award to be presented in the short-lived Cajun-Zydeco
music category. He shared the leadership with his
cousin and over the last 32 years, Ralph has played a remarkable 7,000 performances
and performed in 45 countries with
the
Zydeco Experience(He died peacefully,
in his sleep, after a performance in Louisville, Kentucky)b.
November 18th 1958. 2016:
Danny Champagne/Donald Grant (65) Jamaican music
producer and CEO of Champagne
IInternational Records, based in Kingston. Over his long career he has worked
with artists such as Voice Mail, Dellie Rsnks, Bogle, Delroy Foster, Bounty Killa,
Makka Diamond, Nicky B, Chicom , Lukie D, Collie Buddz, Turbulence, and Stacie-Ann,
among many others (sadly Danny died due
to complications from a stroke he suffered in 2013)
b. 19512016: Big Sonny/Robert
Edwards (74)American singer and founder member
with the soul group The Intruders, formed in 1961 in Philadelphia. As the first
group to score hits with the songwriting/production team of Kenny Gamble and Leon
Huff, the Intruders played a major role in the rise of Philadelphia soul, but
sadly are sometimes over looked for the better-known acts. The Intruders are also
noted for having 24 R&B chart hits, including 6 R&B Top Tens, and 14 chart
hits in the Billboard Hot 100, including their signature song, the million-selling
Top 10 smash, Cowboys to Girls. In 1975, Big Sonny walked away from the music
industry after becoming a Jehovah Witness.(sadly
Big Sonny died from a heart attack) b. 1942.

October 16th.1945: James Vincent Monaco (60)Italian-born
American composer of popular music; born in Fornia, Italy; his family emigrated
to USA when he was six. He worked as a ragtime player in Chicago before moving
to New York. His first successful song "Oh, You Circus Day" was featured
in the 1912 Broadway revue Hanky Panky. Further success came with "Row, Row,
Row" (lyrics-William Jerome) in the Ziegfeld Follies of 1912. Perhaps his
best remembered song is "You Made Me Love You (I Didn't Want to Do It)"
(lyrics-Joseph McCarthy) introduced by Al Jolson in 1913. Other lyricists he teamed
up with included Johnny Burke to produce songs for several Bing Crosby films.
James was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970 (?)b. January
13th 1885. 1957: Ralph
Benatzky (63) Austrian
composer of Czech origin, born in Moravské Budejovice. He composed operas
and operettas, such as Cherchez la femme-1911, Casanova-1928, Die drei Musketiere-1929,
Im weißen Rössl-1930, and Meine Schwester und ich-1930. (?)b. June 5th 1884.1959:
Minor
Hall/Ram Hall (62)American
jazz drummer born in Sellies, Louisiana; after
studying at New Orleans University until 1914, Minor began playing with Kid Ory.
He played in various New Orleans bands such as the Superior Band, then moved to
Chicago in 1918. He took his brother, Tubby Hall's spot in Lawrence Duhe's band
briefly before serving in the U.S. Army during WWI. In 1926 he played with Jimmy
Noone, and then moved to California for an extended run with Mutt Carey's Jeffersonians
from 1927 to 1932. He played in the Winslow Allen band in the 1930s, but took
a hiatus from music for part of the decade, and served briefly in the Army again
in '42. In 1945 he rejoined Ory in his Creole Jazz Band and became one of his
most longstanding members, remaining with Ory's ensemble until 1956, when he retired
through poor health. Minor recorded extensively with Ory and also did some recording
with Louis Armstrong in the 1940s (?)
b. March 2nd 1897.1969:
Leonard Chess/Lejzor Czyz (52) The
founder of the Chess record label, played a pivotal role in the birth of the Chicago
electric blues movement of the postwar era, launching the careers of legends.
In the 1950s, Chess Records' commercial success grew with artists such as Little
Walter, The Moonglows, The Flamingos and Chuck Berry, and in the '60s with Etta
James, Fontella Bass, Koko Taylor, Little Milton, Laura Lee and Tommy Tucker,
as well as with the subsidiary labels Checker, Argo and Cadet. As the 1960s progressed,
Chess's recording enterprise branched out into other genres including gospel,
traditional jazz, spoken word, comedy, and more (heart attack)
b. March 12th 1917.
1973: Gene Krupa (64)American jazz & big band drummer
born
in Chicago, Illinois. Many
consider him to be one of the most influential drummers of the 20th century, particularly
regarding the development of the drum kit. Many jazz historians believe he made
history in 1927 as the first kit drummer ever to record using a bass drum pedal.
Others, however, believe this was done earlier by Baby Dodds. His drum method
was published in 1938 and immediately became the standard text. He is also credited
with inventing the rim shot on the snare drum. The 1937 recording of Louis Prima's
"Sing, Sing, Sing (With a Swing)" by Benny Goodman and His Orchestra
featuring Gene on drums was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame and Gene was
the first drummer inducted into the Modern Drummer Hall of Fame in 1978. Sal
Mineo starred as Gene Krupa in the Columbia Pictures movie The Gene Krupa Story
in 1959. (leukemia
and heart failure)b. January 15th 1909.1982: Mario Del Monaco (67)Italian
tenor and is regarded by his admirers as being one of the greatest dramatic tenors
of the 20th century. Born in Florence career began with his debut on December
31st 1940, as Pinkerton at the Puccini Theater in Milan and made his first recordings
in Milan in 1948 for HMV. He sang at the New York Metropolitan Opera from 1951
to 1959, enjoying particular success in dramatic Verdi parts such as Radames.
He soon established himself as one of a quartet of Italian tenor "superstars"
who reached the peak of their fame in the 1950s and '60s, the others being Giuseppe
Di Stefano, Carlo Bergonzi and Franco Corelli. He retired from the stage in 1975
(Mario
sadly died as a result of nephritis)b. July 27th 1915.1982:
Jakov Gotovac (87)Croatian
composer, conductor of classical music. He is the author of the most famous Croatian
nationalist opera, the comic Ero s onoga svijeta "Ero the joker",
which has been performed on all continents except Australia, and translated into
nine languages, with its libretto written by Milan Begovic. It has been performed
in more than 80 theatres in Europe alone .
In his works, he represents the late national romanticism, with national folklore
being the main source of ideas and inspiration (?)b. October 11th 1895.1983:
George Liberace (72)
American musician and television performer, born
in Menasha, Wisconsin, he was the elder brother and business partner of famed
US entertainer Liberace, Wladziu Valentino Liberace. He appeared regularly on
his brother's syndicated TV show in the 1950s as violin accompanist and orchestral
arranger (died
of leukemia in Las Vegas, Nevada) b. July 31st 1911.1986:
Arthur Grumiaux (65) Belgian violinist, also
proficient in piano, born in Villers-Perwin. He begin music studies at the age
of only 4, and trained on violin and piano with the Fernand Quintet at the Charleroi
Conservatory, where he took first prize at the age of 11. Arthur's playing was
included on over 30 recordings. The titles on these releases favour the compositions
of Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Mozart, and Schubert, but he also including works
by Corelli, Ravel, Debussy and Franck. In addition to his solo work, he recorded
Mozart quintets with the Grumiaux Ensemble, and various selections with the Grumiaux
Trio. His successful performance career led up to royal recognition, and in 1973
he was knighted baron by King Baudouin for his services to music, thus sharing
the title with Paganini.(He
struggled with diabetes, his heavy recording schedules and concert performances,
sadly he died of a sudden stroke while in in Brussels)b. March 21st 19211990: Art Blakey/Abdullah Ibn Buhaina (71)US
jazz drummer; one of the inventors of the modern, bebop style of drumming. He
was known as a powerful musician and a ferocious groover. He is undoubtedly one
of the most influential jazz musicians ever; his brand of bluesy, funky hard bop
was and still remains profoundly influential on mainstream jazz. As a teenager
he was playing the piano full-time, leading a commercial band, before teaching
himself to drum.After which in the 1940s, Blakey was a member of bands led by
Mary Lou Williams, Fletcher Henderson, and Billy Eckstine.
In 1947 Art organized the Seventeen Messengers, a rehearsal band, and recorded
with an octet called the Jazz Messengers. Over the years the Jazz Messengers served
as a springboard for young jazz musicians such as Donald Byrd, Johnny Griffin,
Lee Morgan, Wayne Shorter, Freddie Hubbard, Keith Jarrett, Chuck Mangione, Woody
Shaw, JoAnne Brackeen and Wynton Marsalis. Art made a world tour in 19712
with the Giants of Jazz including Dizzy Gillespie, Kai Winding, Sonny Stitt, Thelonious
Monk and Al McKibbon. Up to the 1960s Art also recorded as a sideman with many
other musicians including Jimmy Smith, Herbie Nichols, Cannonball Adderley, Miles
Davis, Grant Green, and Jazz Messengers graduates Lee Morgan and Hank Mobley,
amongst many others. However, after the mid-1960s he mostly concentrated on his
own work as a leader (he sadly died while battling lung
cancer) b.
October 11th 1919. 2001:
Etta Jones (72)American jazz singer; critical success and relative
commercial obscurity earned her a reputation in her lifetime as a "jazz musician's
jazz singer", a highly underrated singer who rarely received the recognition
she so richly deserved. Her first recordings "Salty Papa Blues," "Evil
Gal Blues," "Blow Top Blues," and "Long, Long Journey"
were produced by Leonard Feather in 1944, featuring her in the company of clarinetist
Barney Bigard and tenor saxophonist Georgie Auld. Her last recording, a tribute
to Billie Holiday, was released 57 years later on the day of her death. Only one
of her recordings, her debut album "Don't Go to Strangers" in 1960 was
a big success with sales of over a million copies. Etta had three Grammy nominations,
for the Don't Go to Strangers LP in 1960, Save Your Love for Me in 1981, and My
Buddy in 1999. In 2008 the album Don't Go to Strangers was inducted into the Grammy
Hall of Fame (sadly died after battling cancer)b.
October 25th 1928. 2004:
Doug Bennett (52) Canadian rock singer-songwriter, born
in Toronto, he moved to Vancouver in 1973. In 1977, he formed the rock band Doug
and the Slugs, they toured extensively through America in the 1980s. He wrote
or co-wrote many of their songs such as "Too Bad," "Day By Day,"
"Making It Work" and "Tomcat Prowl." Besides numerous works
with Doug and the Slugs, he released a solo album, Animato, in 1986. He also produced
and directed music videos for artists such as Headpins, Trooper, Zappacosta, Images
In Vogue and for the Slugs themselves(Doug tragacally died a week after falling into a coma)
b. October 31st 1951.2005:
David Reilly (34)
American singer, songwriting, multi-musician, production partner in the electro-rock
band God Lives Underwater aka GLU. They released a self-titled EP, the album Empty,
which produced the single "No More Love", after which he left to launch
a solo career. Also with GLU bandmember Jeff Turzo, he produced and remixed for
Skinny Puppy, Rob Zombie, and Messiah, and he organized and contributed to 1998's
For the Masses: A Tribute To Depeche Mode (complications
of a coma brought on by pain medication for an abscessed tooth)b.
May 5th 1971.2006:
John "Tommy" Johnson (71)
American orchestral tuba player. He performed on more than 2,000 film soundtracks,
most notably John Williams' Jaws score, in which he played a high-register tuba
solo as the melodic theme for the shark; born in LA, California. He received a
bachelor's degree in music in 1956 and he played on his first film in 1958, the
score for Al Capone. He went on to become Hollywood's "first-call" tuba
player, playing for TV commercials and series, such as The Flintstones. In addition
to Jaws, his films included, The Godfather, the Indiana Jones series, the Star
Trek movie series, The Lion King, Titanic, The Thin Red Line (the 1998 remake),
The Matrix, Cats and Dogs, Forrest Gump, Air Force One, Back to the Future, A
Bug's Life and Lethal Weapon are just a few of the 2000 (sadly
lost his battle with cancer and kidney failure)b.
January 7th 1935.2007: Steve J. Spears (56)Australian playwright, actor, writer and
singer,
born
in Adelaide, after his parents separated,, he grew up with relatives in the suburb
of Mile End. He studied Law at the University of Adelaide, but through writing
and performing student revues, was distracted into a career in the theatre.
His most famous work was The Elocution of Benjamin Franklin in '76. He was cited
as "one of Australia's most celebrated playwrights".(sadly
Steve lost his brave battle with lung cancer) b.
January 22nd 1951.2007: Todor "Toe" Proeski (26)Macedonian singer songwriter born in Prilep; a regurlar
at the Eastern European festivals and represented Macedonia at the Eurovision
Song Contest 2004. He was called "Elvis Presley of the Balkans". Todor
was an established songwriter, he wrote several hits for himself including "Ima
Li Den Za Nas"/"Is There A Day For Us", "Slusa Li"/"Are
You Listening", "Malecka"/"Little One" and "Polsko
Cveke"/"Field Flower". In 2004, Proeski composed "Muza"
("Muse") for Martin Vucic, the 2005 Eurovision Song Contest representative
for the Republic of Macedonia. Todor also held humanitarian concerts throughout
the Republic of Macedonia. He was awarded with the Mother Theresa Humanitarian
Award and in 2003 he became a Regional UNICEF Ambassador. (died
near Nova Gradika, Croatia, he was a passenger in a car accident when the
airbags failed to activate)b. January 25th 1981.2011:
Pietro "Pete" Rugolo (95)
Italian-born American jazz composer and arranger born in San Piero Patti, Sicily,
but emigrated to the USA in 1920 and settled in Santa Rosa, CA. He began playing
the baritone horn, but branched out into the French horn and the piano. After
he graduated, he was hired as an arranger and composer by guitarist and bandleader
Johnny Richards and spent World War II playing with altoist Paul Desmond in an
Army band. After the war, he worked for Stan Kenton, who headed one of the most
musically progressive big bands of the era. Pete and the songwriter Joe Greene
collaborated on songs that made Kenton's band one of America's most popular.While
he continued to work occasionally with Kenton in the 1950s, he spent more time
creating arrangements for pop and jazz vocalists, most extensively with former
Kenton singer June Christy; other singers he arranged for included Ernestine Anderson,
Harry Belafonte, Nat King Cole, The Diamonds, Billy Eckstine, the Four Freshmen,
Peggy Lee, Patti Page, Mel Tormé and Kitty White.In the 60s and 70s he
did a lot of work in TV, contributing music to popular shows including Leave It
to Beaver, Thriller, The Fugitive, Run For Your Life, Felony Squad, The Challengers,
The Bold Ones: The Lawyers, Alias Smith, Jones and Family, as well as films, such
as The Sweet Ride, Underground Aces and Chu Chu and the Philly Flash. Pete's own
small combo jazz music featured in a couple of 60s movies including "Where
the Boys Are", under the guise of Frank Gorshin's "Dialectic Jazz Band"
(?)b. December 25th 1915.2014: Tim Hauser/Timothy DuPron Hauser (72) American
singer and founder member of The Manhattan Transfer, born in Troy, New York. He
began to sing professionally at age 15 while living in Asbury Park, when he founded
a doo-wop vocal quintet called The Criterions. In 1959, he entered Villanova University
and in 1964 started his service in the US Air Force and the New Jersey Air National
Guard. In 1969, he formed the first short lived version of The Manhattan Transfer,
they recorded one album, Jukin'. In 1973 he reformed The Manhattan Transfer, they
went on to win 10 Grammy Awards, and many Gold and Platinum records.They took
home both the Downbeat and Playboy readers polls every year in the 1980s for best
vocal group. In 2007, they won the JazzTimes Readers Poll for best vocal group.
When Ahmet Ertegün founded the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, he selected Tim
to serve on the original voting committee, a position he held for three years
from 198688. In 1993, he was awarded an honorary Doctor's Degree in Music
from The Berklee College of Music.
(sadly Tim died of a cardiac arrest)b.
December 12th 1941. 2014:
Allen Forte (87) American
music theorist and musicologist born in Portland. During
World War II he served in the American Navy from 1944 to 1946 on the U.S.S. General
Butner in the Pacific. After graduating at Columbia University, where he earned
both his B.A. and M.A. degrees, he started his 44 years at the Yale faculty, first
as an instructor in music theory after teaching at the Columbia University Teachers
College. He went on to be e Battell Professor of Music, Emeritus at Yale University.
He also taught at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Yale Summer School
of Music and Art, and the Eastman School of Music. He was a visiting lecturer
at Columbia University and the University of British Columbia, and he served on
four different occasions as director of the National Endowment for the Humanities
Summer Seminar for College Teachers. Allen authored 12 scholarly books and 100
articles. His book The Structure Of Atonal Music has been hailed as
one of the most important contributions to music theory in the 20th century. His
use of the computer as well as traditional means of analysis led to fuller knowledge
of musical structure, thereby enhancing both the understanding and the enjoyment
of music. (?) b. December
23rd 1926.2014:
Clive Jones aka Clive Beer-Jones (65)English
saxophonist and flutist; born in Leicester he was a co-founding member of the
early British prog metal band Black Widow which was founded in 1966 as Pesky Gee!,
Black Widow were chiefly noteworthy in their day for making use of lyrical and
visual imagery that many considered shocking, including Satanic and occult themes,
as well as mock sacrifices during stage performances. They split in 1973 following
the release of Black Widow III, but they remained an influential figure
for black metal artists and fans, and several albums of previously unreleased
material  including 1997s Black Widow IV, recorded just
prior to their breakup have followed over the years
(sadly Clive died while fighting cancer)b.
May 28th 1949.2015: John Jennings (61)American
guitarist, multi-instrumentalist, and music producer, born in Harrisonburg, VA.
Among his credits as a producer are eight albums he produced for Mary Chapin Carpenter,
as well as releases by BeauSoleil, John Gorka, and Janis Ian. He has played acoustic,
electric, slide, lap, steel and baritone guitars, organ,
piano, synthesizers, and percussion, sung background vocals and/or produced albums
for Carpenter, the Indigo Girls, the Rankin Family, Niamh Kavanagh, Cheryl Wheeler,
Iris DeMent, George Jones, Robin & Linda Williams and Auldridge, Reid &
Coleman, among many others. As a recording artist, he has five albums to his credit.
He
has been nominated for several Grammy awards, and has won more than 20 Wammie/Washington
Area Music Association awards over the last 20 years. Back in 1971 John had also
been an early member, the lead guitarist for the pioneering doom-metal band Pentagram.(sadly
died fighting kidney cancer) b. November 22nd 1953.

October
17th.1849: Frederic Francois Chopin
(39) Polish composer,
pianist; a child prodigy, performing in elegant salons & beginning to write
his own pieces at the age of 8. He went on to compose 3 piano sonatas, 5 rondos,
4 scherzos, 4 ballades, 17 polonaises, including one with orchestral accompaniment
and one for cello and piano accompaniment, 58 mazurkas, 20 waltzes, 3 écossaises,
26 preludes, 4 sets of variations, including Souvenir de Paganini, 4 impromptus,
21 nocturnes, 27 études (twelve in the Op. 10 cycle, twelve in the Op.
25 cycle, and three in a collection without an opus number), 2 concertos for piano
and orchestra, Opp. 11 and 21. He also composed a fantaisie, an Allegro de concert,
a barcarole, a berceuse, a bolero, a tarantella, a contredanse, a fugue, a cantabile,
a lento, a Funeral March, and a Feuille d'album. Chopin's other works include
a krakowiak for piano and orchestra; fantasia on themes from Polish songs with
accompanying orchestra, a trio for violin, cello and piano; a sonata for cello
and piano, a Grand Duo in E major for cello and piano with Auguste Franchomme
on themes from Giacomo Meyerbeer's opera Robert le diable, and 19 Polish songs
for voice and accompanying piano. (Chopin sadly died of
tuberculosis in Paris)b. March 1st 18101972: Billy Williams (61)US singer, born
in Waco, Texas; he had a highly successful cover, recording of Fats Waller's "I'm
Gonna Sit Right Down And Write Myself A Letter" in 1957. His trademark hook
for his songs was to shout "Oh, Yeah" at the end of lyrics. He was the
lead singer of The Charioteers between 1930-50, after which he formed his own
Billy Williams Quartet with Eugene Dixon, Claude Riddick and John Ball. Many appearances
on TV followed, especially on Your Show of Shows with Sid Caesar. By the early
1960s he had lost his voice due to diabetes. Billy moved to Chicago and worked
as a social worker until his death (?)b. December
28th 1910.1979: Pierre Bernac/Pierre Bertin (80)French baryton-martin who became
the most renowned interpreter of the French art song, and had a close artistic
association with Francis Poulenc. He studied with Reinhold von Wahrlich in Salzburg
and came to music relatively late giving his first recital in 1921. He
gave the first performances of Francis Poulenc's Chansons gaillardes in 1926 and
began appearing in recital with Poulenc as his accompanist in 1934; they continued
performing together until Pierre stopped performing in public around 1960. Poulenc
wrote a majority of his songs for Bernac, including Tel jour, telle nuit and Calligrammes.
He became the most renowned interpreter of the French art song.(sadly he died following a series of heart attacks)
b. 12 January 12th 1899.1984: Alberta Hunter (89) American blues
singer, songwriter, and nurse, born in Memphis. Her career had started back in
the 1910s, and from there on, she became a successful jazz and blues recording
artist, being critically acclaimed to the ranks of Ethel Waters and Bessie Smith.
She first toured Europe in 1917, performing in Paris and London. In the 1920s
and 1930s, she appeared in clubs and on stage in musicals in both New York and
London. The songs she wrote include the critically acclaimed "Downhearted
Blues"-1922. She recorded several records with Perry Bradford from 1922 to
1927. In 1928, she played "Queenie" opposite Paul Robeson in the first
London production of Show Boat at Drury Lane. She subsequently performed in nightclubs
throughout Europe and appeared for the 1934 winter season with Jack Jackson's
society orchestra at London's Dorchester Hotel. Alberta spent the late 1930s on
both sides of the Atlantic and the early 1940s performing at home. In 1944, she
took a U.S.O. troupe to Casablanca and continued entertaining troops in both theatres
of war for the duration of World War II and into the early postwar period. In
the 1950s, she retired from performing and entered the medical field, only to
successfully resume her singing career in her eighties, touring in Europe and
South America, and made more TV appearances (?)
b. April 1st 1895.1991:
Tennessee Ernie Ford (72)American singer and TV performer;
his baritone voice is best known for his grim coal-mining song "Sixteen Tons".
Born in Bristol, Te, he sang in the school choir and played the trombone. In 1937
he worked as an announcer for WOAI but left to attend the Cincinnati Conservatory
of Music. He held radio jobs in Atlanta and Knoxville between 1939-41. In 1946
he went to live in San Bernardino, and landed an announcers job with KXLA
in Pasadena. His comical Tennessee Ernie character bless your pea-pickin
little heart caught the ear of disc jockey-TV host Cliffie Stone, who made
him a regular cast member of LAs Hometown Jamboree country music television
and radio shows. He sang at the Grand Ole Opry in 1950, and in 1953 he became
the first country singer to appear at Londons prestigious Palladium. His
album "Great Gospel Songs" won a Grammy in 1964. Ernie has been awarded
three stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, for radio, records and television.
He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1984 and was inducted into
the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1990. (liver disease)b. February 13th 1919.1993: Christopher
"Criss" Michael Oliva (30)American
lead guitarist and co-founder of the heavy metal band Savatage, born in Pompton
Plains, NJ, before the Oliva family moved to Dunedin, Florida in 1976. It was
here that Criss and his brother Jon formed a band Avatar, in 1978, but in 1983
they had to change their name, deciding on Savatage, they released their first
two albums, Sirens in 1983 and The Dungeons Are Calling in 1985. Savatage continued
to flourish, releasing a further 6 albums after signing with Atlantic Records
in 1985. The band toured relentlessly, with Criss winning critical acclaim, his
biggest dream was for Savatage's 1991 album Streets: A Rock Opera to achieve platinum
status(An
oncoming car operated by a drunk driver crossed the median and struck Criss' car
head-on, tragically killing him instantly) b.
April 3rd 1963.1996:
Chris Acland (30)British drummer;
he played in bands such as The Infection and Panic, before becoming a founder
member of the London-based shoegazing and britpop band, Lush. They went on to
release 3 albums, several singles and EPs (Lush had just
completed a tour and music festival appearances, then two days after bandmate
Emma Anderson announced a desire to quit the band, Chris committed suicide by
hanging himself in his parents' house in Cumbria. His bandmates were devastated
and disbanded after a long period of mourning) b.
September 7th 1966.2000:
Jokke/Joachim Nielsen(36)
Norwegian singer, guitarist; he was the frontman and guitarist of the Norwegian
rock band Jokke & Valentinerne, which he formed in 1982 with his long time
partner May-Irene Aasen on drums and Håkon Torgersen on bass. The band went
on to become one of the most popular bands in Oslo's underground rock scene. Their
first album "Alt kan repareres"(Everything can be repaired) was released
in 1986. Much of the band's lyrics were about alcohol, societal underdogs, misfits
and so-called anti-heroes, Jokke himself had a reputation of frequently getting
drunk on stage. In 1992, he created a scandal when he received Spellemannprisen,
the Norwegian equivalent of the Grammy awards, visibly drunk and/or under the
influence of drugs (drug overdose)
b. September 8th 1964.2001:
Jay Livingston (86) American songwriter, piano, composer and singer
best known as half of a songwriting duo with Ray Evans. Their professional collaboration
began in 1937, they won the Academy Award for Best Original Song three times:
in 1948 for the song Buttons and Bows, written for the movie The Palefacen; 1950
for the song Mona Lisa, written for the movie Captain Carey, U.S.A.; and in 1956
for the song "Whatever Will Be, Will Be (Que Sera, Sera)," featured
in the movie The Man Who Knew Too Much. They wrote popular TV themes for shows
including Bonanza and Mr. Ed. They also wrote the Christmas song Silver Bells
in 1951 for the film The Lemon Drop Kid as well as "Never Let Me Go"
for the 1956 film The Scarlet Hour. Jay is an inductee in the Songwriters Hall
Of Fame(?)
b. March 28th 1915.2002: Chuck Domanico
(58)American jazz bass player; born in Chicago and settled in Los
Angeles in the mid 1960s, and for nearly forty years was a central jazz figure
in Hollywood as well as contributing to a huge number of films and television
programs. As a West Coast sessionist
he worked with Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand, Carmen McRae, Joni Mitchell, Taj
Mahal, Diane Schuur, Natalie Cole, Shelly Manne, Manhattan Transfer, Chet Baker,
Oliver Nelson, John Klemmer, Roger Kellaway, Barney Kessel, Art Pepper, and many
more. (sadly lost to lung cancer)b.
January 20th 1944. 2002: Bashful Brother
Oswald/Pete Kirby/Beecher Ray Kirby (90) American singer, guitar, banjo
and fiddle player born in rural Sevier County, Tennessee in the Great Smoky Mountains.
By his teens, he was playing for square dances. It was at one such party that
he met a Hawaiian guitarist named Rudy Waikiki. Impressed Beecher bought his first
resonator guitar. He visited the Chicago World's Fair in 1933, playing in clubs
and gaining a following. Breecher moved to Knoxville, Tennessee in 1934. Taking
the stage name Pete Kirby, he played resonator guitar with local bands, including
Roy Acuff's Crazy Tennesseans, later to become the Smoky Mountain Boys. It was
with Roy that he became introduced as Bashful Brother Oswald. He joined the Grand
Ole Opry with Acuff's band on New Year's Day 1939 and stayed with the band until
Roy's death in 1995. He was also a sort after session player; his session work
included working with the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band on Will the Circle Be Unbroken,
an album that paid tribute to the old-time, traditional country musicians of Nashville,
Tennessee. For nearly 60 years, he was one of the most influential and talented
resonator players in country music (died at his home in
Madison)b. December 26th 1911.2002:
Derek Bell M.B.E. (66)Northern Irish harpist, pianist, oboist, musicologist,
and composer, best known for his accompaniment work on various instruments with
The Chieftains, he was the only member of the band to wear a tie at every public
performance. Born in Belfast, he graduated from the Royal College of Music in
1957. Between 1958 and 1990 he composed several classical works, including three
piano sonatas, two symphonies. In 1965 he became an oboist and harpist with the
BBC Northern Ireland Orchestra. He had been known to be able to skilfully play
the pedal harp, neo-Celtic harp, and wire-strung Irish-Bardic harp and served
as a Professor of Harp at the Academy of Music in Belfast. For two precarious
years he recorded both with the BBC Northern Ireland Orchestra and with The Chieftains,
until finally becoming a full-time member of the Chieftains in 1975. Derek was
awarded an MBE in the 2000 Queen's Birthday Honours List for services to traditional
music. His final album was with Kriyananda, the Mystic Harp vol II, a collection
of compositions in a new age style, for solo harp, quite different from the traditional
and classical compositions for which he was otherwise known (Derek
sadly died of a cardiac arrest) b. October 21st
1935. 2004: Uzi Hitman (52) Israeli
singer, songwriter, and TV personality; he became popular during the 1980s and
'90s. He composed and wrote over 650 songs, his most famous songs include Noladati
Lashalom/I Was Born for Peace, Ratziti Sheteda/I Wanted You to Know, Todah /Thank
you, Mi yada' sh'kach yihiye /Who Knew It Would Be Like This and Kan /Here, which
reached 3rd place during the 1991 Eurovision Song Contest. Uzi also appeared on
the 80s children's programmes Parpar Nehmad and Hopa Hei (sadly
died of a heart attack)b. June 9th 1952.2007: Teresa Brewer/Theresa Breuer (76)American pop and jazz singer who grew up in Toledo, Ohio; she was one of the
most popular female singers of the 1950s with hits such as "Dancin' with
Someone", "Into Each Life Some Rain Must Fall", "Choo'n Gum",
"Ricochet", "Baby, Baby, Baby", "Bell Bottom Blues",
"Our Heartbreaking Waltz", "Pledging My Love", "Tweedle
Dee" and "Rock Love", "A Tear Fell" and "Bo Weevil".
Teresa re-emerged as a jazz vocalist in the 1980's and 1990's recording a number
of albums including tribute albums to Bessie Smith, Louis Armstrong, and Irving
Berlin and recorded with such jazz greats as Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Dizzy
Gillespie and Bobby Hackett. Over her career, she recorded around 600 song titles
(sadly died of a neuromuscular disease) b. May 7th
1931.2007: Clarence "Tater" Tate
(76)American bluegrass fiddle player
and bassist, a member of Bill Monroe's Blue Grass Boys and over the course of
a 60-year-plus career, he lent support to many of the leading figures in the genre,
from Bill Monroe to Jimmy Martin. Born in the south west Virginia he played the
guitar as a child and had appeared on local radio by the age of 10. By 1950, he
had become a much-sought-after sideman, and performed regularly on Knoxville's
popular Mid-Day Merry-Go-Round. In 1956, received an invitation from Bill Monroe
to join his seminal group, the Blue Grass Boys. He also worked alongside bluegrass
notables including Carl Story, Hylo Brown, Jim Eanes, Red Smiley, The Shenandoah
Cut-Ups, Lester Flatt's Nashville Grass and others along his long musical journey
(sadly lost his struggle with lung cancer)
b.February 4th 1931. 2008: Levi Stubbs/Levi
Stubbles (72) American lead vocalist with The Four Tops; he began his
professional singing career with friends Abdul "Duke" Fakir, Renaldo
"Obie" Benson and Lawrence Payton to form the Four Aims in 1954. Two
years later, the group changed their name to the Four Tops. The group began as
a supper-club act before finally signing to Motown Records in 1963. As an actor,
he provided the voice of the carnivorous plant "Audrey II" in the movie
version of the musical Little Shop of Horrors in 1986 and the voice of Mother
Brain in the animated TV series Captain N: The Game Master in 1989 (complications
of cancer and stroke) b. June 6th 1936... read
more2009:
Carla Boni/Carla Gaiano (84)Italian singer; Carla started a
long association on Rai, the Italian State Radio and TV network, as a singer in
1951. In '53 she won the Festival della canzone italiana with Flo Sandon, singing
"Viale d'Autunno". In 1955 she won the "Festival di Napoli"
with the song "'E stelle 'e Napule ", singing with her husband Gino
Latilla and Maria Paris. During her career of over half a centry, she formed a
band with her husband Gino Latilla, Nilla Pizzi and Giorgio Consolini, called
the Flabby band, in which she sang a new version of Mambo Italiano (died
in Rome, after a long illness)b.
July 17th 1925.2009:
Vic Mizzy (93)American composer for television and movies whose
best-known works are the themes to the 1960s television sitcoms Green Acres and
The Addams Family. He also penned top-20 songs in the 1930s and 40s including
Doris Day's 1945 hit "My Dreams Are Getting Better All the Time"; "There's
a Faraway Look in Your Eye" "Three Little Sisters", and "Take
It Easy" all 3 co-written with lyricist Irving Taylor; "Pretty Kitty
Blue Eyes", "The Whole World Is Singing My Song", "Choo'n
Gum", "The Jones Boy", and "With a Hey and a Hi and a Ho-Ho-Ho".
He broke into TV in 1959, composing music for Shirley Temple's Storybook and the
themes for Moment of Fear, Klondike and Kentucky Jones. During the 1960s, he wrote
themes and scores for the hit shows Green Acres, The Addams Family, as well as
for other sitcoms including The Pruitts of Southampton, The Double Life of Henry
Phyfe, Captain Nice, The Don Rickles Show, and Temperature's Rising, also five
Don Knotts films including The Ghost and Mr. Chicken and The Reluctant Astronaut.
Other work includes scores for the William Castle films The Night Walker and The
Busy Body, and underscores for the TV series The Richard Boone Show and Quincy,
as well as for such TV movies as Terror on the 40th Floor. He also worked with
Sam Raimi for the outtake music of Spider-Man 2 and Spider-Man 3(?) b. January
9th 1916.2010:
Eyedea/Oliver Hart/Micheal Larsen (28)American rapper born in Saint Paul, Minnesota, who went on to become a
battle emcee, touring the circuit between 1997 and 2001. During this time he won
top prizes at Scribble Jam 99, the Rock Steady Anniversary 2000, and Blaze
Battle Chicago 2000. He contributed a track to the Anticon compilation, ''Music
for the Advancement of Hip Hop''. Additionally, he toured extensively as second
emcee and support DJ for Atmosphere. Eyedea and his friend Gregory Keltgen aka
DJ Abilities formed a duo Sixth Sense, now known as Eyedea & Abilities and
in 2001 released an album ''First Born''. In 2002, Eyedea, under his pen name
"Oliver Hart", he released the self-produced ''The Many Faces of Oliver
Hart''. In 2004, he and Abilities reunited to release the self-titled album E&A.
The summer of 2009 saw Eyedea & Abilities joining the massive touring hip
hop festival Rock the Bells (cause of death not yet released)
b. November 9th 1981.2010:
Dennis Taylor (56)American saxophonist
and author, born in New England and later relocated to Nashville, where he became
a session and stage musician whose saxophone aided recordings by Delbert McClinton,
Clarence Gatemouth Brown, Michelle Shocked, Buckwheat Zydeco, Todd
Snider, and many others. As an author his books include ''Blues Saxophone'', ''Jazz
Saxophone'' and ''Amazing Phrasing''. In 2007 he became a full member of the Delbert
McClinton's. After 30 plus years of studios, sessions and sideman stage performances,
Dennis had just completed his first solo album (sadly
died of a heart attack while on tour with
the Delbert McClinton band)b.
1954NOTE: not
to be confused with New Jersey based singer Dennis Taylor2012: Luigi Vellucci (99) American opera
singer, born in Providence, Rhode Island. He made his professional debut in 1948
as Don Basilio in the New York City Opera's production of Mozart's Marriage of
Figaro. He sang with the New York City Opera from 1948 until 1955 and again from
1960 until he retired from singing professionally in the early 1970s. In
addition to his work with the New York City Opera, he performed with many professional
opera companies in the 1950s and 1960s, including the Chicago Lyric Opera, Havana
Opera, NBC Opera and the Montreal Opera Guild. All told, his repertoire consisted
of over 80 roles in five languages in opera, musical comedy, operetta, and Gilbert
and Sullivan productions. He can also be heard on two commercially available recordings.
After retiring from performing, he taught privately, led church choirs, and volunteered
in public schools (died
from natural causes)b. 19132012: László Komár (67)
Hungarian rock and roll singer; between 1962-1965 he was a member of the band
Scampolo after which he became a member of the co-Dogs. He also performed with
bands such as Atlas, Bergendy, Non-Stop and The Eyes, Mouth, and Hearts before
turning solo in the mid 70s. In 1981, he released his first solo album:Checkerboard,
which was followed by many more. On November 28th 2011 Hungarotons awarded him
a Lifetime Achievement Award.(sadly
László died
from complications of a pulmonary embolism)
b. November 28th 1944

October
18th. 1944: Orwill "Hoppy" Jones (39)American jazz cello player which he played
in the style of an upright bass, and he was the bass singer in the Ink Spots where
he was an important and the stablising member. They first recorded for Victor
Records in 1935, but although the group was growing rapidly in popularity their
early record releases were not commercially successful. They had their first hit
with "If I Didn't Care", in 1939. Other hits included "Address
Unknown", "My Prayer", "When The Swallows Come Back To Capistrano",
"Whispering Grass", "Do I Worry", "Java Jive", "Shout,
Brother, Shout", "Don't Get Around Much Anymore", "I Can't
Stand Losing You", and "Cow-Cow Boogie" before Hoppy's sudden death.
The Ink Spots were the subject of a 1998 book by Marv Goldberg: "More Than
Words Can Say: The Ink Spots And Their Music". The group was inducted into
the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 1999 and they were even inducted into the Rock
and Roll Hall of Fame, as influences, in 1989; this induction consisted of Hoppy
Jones, Deek
Watson, Bill Kenny,and
Charlie Fuqua.(Hoppy collapsed on stage and died after being taken home.
It turned out that he had been having cerebral hemorrhages for over a year)b. February
17th
1902.1994: Lee Allen (68)American
tenor saxophone player born in Pittsburg, Kansas, he played 4 decades on dozens
of hits and many hundreds of sides.
In 1947, he joined the Paul Gayten Band and later, the Dave Bartholomew's Band.
Notable are his recording with singers Fats Domino and Lloyd Price; he also was
the sax soloist on most of Little Richard's epochal hits from 1955 and '56. His
own instrumental song "Walkin' With Mr. Lee", was a minor hit in 1958
and was played frequently on the TV program American Bandstand. The rockabilly
revival of the late 1970s found younger musicians seeking his distinctive saxophone.
In
October 1981 he
played three shows with the Rolling Stones, he
recorded with the Stray Cats, and was a mentor and eventual member of The Blasters,
recording with them on all of their LPs from their 2nd, he also toured with them
from the early '80s until he died in 1994 (?)b.
July 2nd 1927.2000: Julie London/Gayle Peck
(74) American actress and singer who was known for her smokey, sensual
voice; born in Santa Rosa, CA, she moved with her parents to L.A. at 14, where
she began singing in public in her teens before appearing in film. She
recorded 32 albums in a career that began in 1955 with a live performance at the
881 Club in Los Angeles. Billboard named her the most popular female vocalist
for 1955, '56, and '57. She recorded 100's of songs including 'Don't Worry About
Me', 'Motherless Child', 'A Foggy Day', and 'You're Blasé', "Hot Toddy",
"Desafinado", "Yummy Yummy Yummy", "Daddy","Go
Slow" and "Cry Me a River". Her last recording was "My Funny
Valentine" for the soundtrack of the Burt Reynolds film Sharky's Machine
in 1981. Primarily remembered as a singer, Julie also made more than 20 films
and played many roles in programs made for TV(Julie sadly died of a stroke) b. September
26th 1926.2002: Lo
Man/Roman Tam (52) Hong
Kong Cantopop singer, regarded as the "Godfather of Cantopop". Born
in Guangzhou, China he later immigrated to Hong Kong in 1962 at the age of 12.
After forming a short-lived band known as Roman and the Four Steps, he became
a contract singer under studios term at Television Broadcasts Limited. He briefly
switched to Asia Television Ltd in the early 1990s. During
the 1990s he accepted many budding singers as his students. Some of which who
became famous included Joey Yung and Ekin Cheng. He had sang many well known songs
for various TV series including Below the Lion Rock and the 1982 TVB TV series
The Legend of the Condor Heroes. He was also groundbreaking for being the first
major Hong Kong singer to pose in drag and to pose in nude (sadly
died after a brave battle with liver cancer) b. February
16th 1950. 2006: Anna
Russell née Anna Claudia Russell-Brown (94)EnglishCanadian singer and comedienne. She was educated
at St Felix School at Southwold, Suffolk, at Harrogate College and in Brussels
and Paris and also studied at the Royal Academy of Music. Anna gave many concerts
in which she sang and played comic musical sketches on the piano. Among her best-known
works are her concert performances and famous recordings of The Ring of the Nibelungs
(An Analysis), a humorous 30-minute synopsis of Richard Wagner's "Der Ring
des Nibelungen", and on the same album, her parody "How to Write Your
Own Gilbert and Sullivan Opera" (In her last years,
she moved to Australia, in Rosedale near Batemans Bay, where she died) b.
December 27th 19112007:
Lucky Philip Dube (43)South African reggae musician, born in Ermelo,
formerly of the Eastern Transvaal, now of Mpumalanga; while at school he joined
a choir and formed his first musical ensemble, called The Skyway Band. It was
here too he discovered the Rastafari movement. At the age of 18 Philip joined
his cousin's band, The Love Brothers, playing Zulu pop music known as mbaqanga.
He went on to
become South Africa's biggest selling reggae artist, recording
22 albums in Zulu, English and Afrikaans in a 25 year period. In 1989 he won four
OKTV Awards for "Prisoner", won another for "Captured Live"
the following year and yet another two for "House Of Exile" the year
after.His 1993 album, Victims sold over one million copies worldwide, and in 1995
he earned a worldwide recording contract with Motown. His album Trinity was the
first release on Tabu Records after Motown's acquisition of the label.
(Brutally killed in the Rosettenville suburb of Johannesburg, shot dead by carjackers;
3 men were tried, found guilty and sentenced to life in prison)
b. August 3rd 1964. 2008: Dave McKenna (78)American jazz pianist;
known for his "three-handed swing", and was the leading proponent of
solo piano style. He started with Boots Mussulli and Charlie Ventura in the 40's,
worked with many of top swing and Dixieland musicians including Woody Herman.
Gene Krupa, Stan Getz, Zoot Sims, Al Cohn, Eddie Condon, Bobby Hackett but became
primarily a soloist after 1967. Dave was also known as a wonderful accompanist,
recording with such singers as Rosemary Clooney, Teddi King and Donna Byrne and
recording a PBS special with Tony Bennett (sadly died while
fighting lung cancer)b. May 30th 1930.2008: Dee Dee Warwick/Delia Mae Warrick (63)American
soul singer; born in Newark, New Jersey, she started out singing with her sister
Dionne Warwick and their aunt Cissy Houston in the New Hope Baptist Church Choir
in Newark, NJ. The trio formed the Gospelaires who often performed with the Drinkard
Singers. At
a performance at the Apollo Theater in 1959, the Warwick sisters were recruited
by a record producer for session work and Dionne and Dee Dee Warwick, along with
Doris Troy, subsequently became a prolific New York City area session singing
team. Dee Dee who is also cousin of singer, Whitney Houston is best-known for
her hits during the 1960s, including the No.13 R&B hit "I'm Gonna Make
You Love Me", also she was a two time Grammy nominee for "Foolish Fool"
and "She Didn't Know" (died after long illness)b. Sept 25th
1945.2011: Bob Brunning (68)British
blues bassist best known for his role as the original bass guitar player with
the blues rock band Fleetwood Mac. When Peter Green first formed Fleetwood Mac
in 1967 he hired Bob as bassist on a on a temporary basis, hoping that John McVie
would soon leave the Bluesbreakers to join Fleetwood Mac.. which he did. Bob contributed
bass guitar to the track
"Long Grey Mare" on the band's self
titled debut album. After his stint in Fleetwood Mac, he joined Savoy Brown before
embarking on a career in teaching which lasted 30 years. He did not abandon music
however, and played in the Brunning Sunflower Blues Band, Tramp, and later the
DeLuxe Blues Band. He also wrote several books about Fleetwood Mac, the British
blues scene, and music in general. His works about his former group include Behind
The Masks, published in 1990, 1998's Fleetwood Mac: The First 30 Years, and The
Fleetwood Mac Story: Rumours and Lies.(sadly
Bob died from a heart attack) b. June 29th
1943. 2012:
David S. Ware (62) American jazz saxophonist,
born in Plainfield, N.J., and grew up in nearby Scotch Plains. He started playing
alto saxophone at the age of 10, and studied at the Berklee College of Music in
the late 60s. During that time he met the pianist Cooper-Moore and the drummer
Marc Edwards, with whom he performed through much of the 70s in the jazz group
Apogee. In 1973 Sonny Rollins invited Apogee to open for him at the Village Vanguard
after which David moved to New York, where he became part of the SoHo loft-jazz
scene. By the late 80s he was recording as a leader. In 1997 he was signed to
Columbia by the saxophonist Branford Marsalis, where he recorded Go See
the World and
Surrendered". This,
as well as the start of the annual Vision Festival in 1996, brought new attention
to the culture around the free jazz scene in New York and to David Ware's music.
From 2001 onward he recorded 10 records for Aum Fidelity, the label owned by Mr.
Joerg, including an album-length version of Mr. Rollinss 1958 Freedom
Suite(sadly
died from complications of a kidney transplant) b.
November 7th 19492012: Borah
Bergman (78)
American free jazz pianist,
born in Brooklyn. He learned clarinet as a child, and did not commence his piano
studies until adulthood. He developed his left hand playing to the point where
he became essentially ambidextrous as a pianist, and can play equally fast in
both hands. He recorded four albums as a soloist before embarking on several duo
and trio albums in the 1990s and 2000s with the likes of Peter Brötzmann,
Roscoe Mitchell, Conny Bauer, Mat Maneri, Thomas Buckner and others (?)
b. December
13th 1933.2013: Roland Janes (80) American rockabilly
guitarist and record producer; he first started playing mandolin before moving
to guitar and became the house guitarist at Sun in 1956, was so instrumental in
developing the "Sun Sound". He can be heard on many
Jerry Lee Lewis
tracks including Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On and High School Confidential. He
played along with many other Sun artists like Charlie Rich and Sonny Burgess.
He also was a member of Billy Lee Riley's Little Green Men. Roland and Billy founded
their own label, Rita Records, where they had a hit with Harold Dorman's original
version of his song "Mountain of Love". In the mid 70s he went into
semi-retirement and he taught recording technique classes. In 1982, he left teaching
and returned to Sun with Sam Phillips, although most of his work was now behind
the scenes, he still occasionally got his guitar out for sessions, including one
for Mudhoney's '98 album Tomorrow Hit Today. Roland was recently elected to the
Memphis Music Hall of Fame and was scheduled to receive a Brass Note on Beale
Street (sadly
died while being treated in the aftermath of a heart attack)
b. August 20th 1933.2014:
Paul Craft (76) American songwriter, born in
Memphis and raised in Arkansas, he taught himself to play many instruments as
a child. At 28 he began writing songs including Mark Chesnutt's No.1 hit single
"Brother Jukebox", and "It's Me Again, Margaret", which
became one of Ray Stevens' signature songs. His many songs also included
"Midnight Flyer"-The Eagles,
Linda Ronstadt-"Keep Me From Blowing Away", Alison
Krauss-"Teardrops Will Kiss The Morning Dew" and
his
song "Dropkick Me, Jesus" was a No.17 country hit for Bobby Bare in
1976. Charlie
Sizemore sang his "Nothing Happening Every Minute", The
Osborne Brothers sang "Fastest Grass Alive", and The Seldom Scene recorded
versions of his "Raised By The Railroad Line," "Through the Bottom
of the Glass" and "Keep Me From Blowing Away". Between 1977 and
1978, he charted three solo singles on RCA Records himself,
"It's Me Again, Margaret", "Lean on Jesus (Before He Leans on You)"
and "Teardrops in My Tequila". Paul was inducted into The Songwriters
Hall of Fame on October 5th 2014. (sadly
died in hospital in Nashville, Tennessee) b. August
12th 1938. 2014: R. C. Mehta (96)
Indian highly honored musician and musicologist, born in Surat. He was trained
in Hindustani classical vocal music and later followed the Kirana style of the
Late Ustad Abdul Waheed Khan. He was with All India Radio for 9 years, 19451953,
prior to his taking up principal-ship of the Baroda Music College. A distinguished
vocalist of the Kirana Gharana Style, he developed his own style in Khyal and
Thumri, and gave several concerts of Hindustani Classical Music in music circles,
music conferences and over All India Radio. He composed and produced above fifty
musical dramas and features over A.I.R., Bombay, Ahmedabad and Baroda 194553.
More recently he wrote the book, Eminent Musicians of Yester Years, remembering
hundreds of musicians who enriched Hindustani Music, several of them now forgotten,
some still living and continuing the legacy.(?)
b. October 31st 1918. 2014:
Joanne Borgella (32)American singer and model
born in Oyster Bay Cove, Long Island, New York, but brought up in Uniondale, New
York; she was signed to Wilhelmina Models in New York City, Miami and LA, and
was the first winner of Mo'Nique's Fat Chance pageant as "Miss F.A.T."
in 2005. She was also a top 24 contestant on the seventh season of American Idol
in 2008. Joanne appeared as a coach on MTV's Made in 2011 and in 2013 joined the
cast of NUVOtv's hit show Curvy Girls(sadly died
while bravely fighting endometrial cancer)b. May 29th 19822014:
Mick Burt (76)English musician and original
longtime drummer for
British cult
singing duo Chas & Dave;
born in Middlesex, UK, he played with Chas & Dave from their debut album,
One Fing 'n' Anuvver, in 1975, up until his retirement in 2009. He played on all
their major hits including "Gertcha", which peaked at No. 20 in the
UK Singles Chart, and was the first of eight Top 40 hit singles. Other major hits
were, "Rabbit", "Ain't No Pleasing You", "Snooker Loopy",
"London Girls", "Stars Over 45", "Hot Shot Tottenham!",
and "Ossie's Dream (Spurs Are On Their Way To Wembley)" released by
the English football team Tottenham Hotspur, with uncredited accompaniment by
Chas & Dave and Mick. Together they also enjoyed 9 best-selling albums. Prior
to this, Mick was a member of the British
rhythm and blues band, Cliff
Bennett and the Rebel Rousers formed in 1957, in which Dave Peacock and Chas Hodges
were also members. The R&B, beat group had a string of hits in the 60s, which
included two Top 10 hits, "One Way Love" in 1964 and "Got to Get
You into My Life" in 1966. Over his long career he performed with loads of
big stars such as Bo
Diddley, Eric Clapton,
10CC, and The Beatles,
to name
just
a few. Chas
& Dave wrote a song for Mick titled "Give It Some Stick, Mick".(sadly
Mick died while fighting Parkinson's disease and dementia)b.
August 23rd 1938.2015: Ankarali Namik/Namik Ugurlu (38)Turkish folk singer; "Ankarali" means from Ankara, denoting
his musical style of Ankara's ethnic music. He is best known for his songs "Arabada
Bes, Evde Onbes" and "Dar Geldi Sana Ankara"(Namik
tragically fell
to his death from the 7th floor of
his home)b. 1976.2015: Frank Watkins aka Bøddel (47)American
heavy metal bassist; he began playing music at the age of 12 at school and in
local punk bands, before joining the pioneering death metal band, Obituary in
1989. He
cited his musical influences as "anything dark, aggressive, and pissed off"
and he brought his punk/hardcore background to the realm of death/black metal.
Frank played on every Obituary release, except for their debut album, Slowly We
Rot. In late 2007 he became the bassist of Norwegian black metal band Gorgoroth,
and in 2009 he participated in the recording of the Gorgoroth album Quantos Possunt
ad Satanitatem Trahunt. He debuted live with the band at the Hole in the Sky metal
festival in Bergen on August 2009.(sadly
Frank died fighting cancer) b. February 19th 1968.

October 19th. 1956:
Isham Jones (62) American
bandleader, saxophonist, bassist and songwriter born in Coalton, Ohio, but grew
up in Saginaw, Michigan. In 1915 he moved to Chicago, which remained his home
base until 1932, when he re-established himself in New York City. The Isham Jones
band made a series of popular records throughout the 1920s. He led one of the
most popular dance bands in the 1920s and 1930s. His first successful recording,
was released in 1921 under Isham Jones and his Orchestra. This million-seller
stayed twelve weeks in the U.S. charts, six at No. 1. Noted musicians who played
in his band included Louis Panico, Benny Goodman, Woody Herman, Walt Yoder, and
Roy Bargy. He also toured England with his orchestra in 1925. In April
of 1932, a young Bing Crosby recorded two sessions with Isham's
band which included "Sweet Georgia Brown". In October 1932, he teamed
up with the Three X Sisters in New York, they recorded "experimental"
songs for RCA Victor which Isham began to fuse jazz, and early swing music. They
recorded 'Where, I Wonder Where?' and 'What Would Happen To Me If Something Happened
To You'. In the 1940s, Isham lived
in Colorado on his poultry farm, leaving occasionally
for short tours, before relocating to Los Angeles and he
finally moved to Hollywood, Florida in 1955(sadly lost his fight with cancer)
b. January 31st 1894.
1987: Jacqueline Mary du Pré OBE (48)
British cellist, acknowledged as one of the greatest players of the instrument
and is particularly associated with Elgar's Cello Concerto in E Minor. At
age 16, she made her formal début, at Wigmore Hall, London and made her
concerto début in 1962 at the Royal Festival Hall playing the Elgar Cello
Concerto with the BBC Symphony Orchestra under Rudolf Schwarz. She performed at
the Proms in 1963, playing the Elgar Concerto with Sir Malcolm Sargent. Jaqueline
went on to performed with several prestigious orchestras, including the Berlin
Philharmonic Orchestra, London Symphony, London Philharmonic, BBC
Symphony Orchestra, New
Philharmonia Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Israel
Philharmonic, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra. She regularly performed
with such famous conductors as Barbirolli, Sargent, Sir Adrian Boult, Daniel Barenboim,
Zubin Mehta, and Leonard Bernstein. Sadly her career was cut short by illness,
which forced her to cease performing at the age of 28(multiple sclerosis)b. January 26th 1945.
1988: Son House/Eddie James House
Jr (86) American
blues singer and guitarist, a pioneer of an innovative style featuring strong,
repetitive rhythms, often played with the aid of slide guitar, and his singing
often incorporated elements of southern gospel and spiritual music. Born in Riverton,
Mississippi, but raised in Tallulah, Louisiana, at 15 he began a preaching career.
Son became more and more drawn to the blues,
inspired by the work of Willie Wilson by his mid 20s he had taught
himself guitar. He
began playing alongside his
good friend Willie Brown, Charley
Patton, Robert Johnson and Fiddlin' Joe Martin around Robinsonville, MI, and north
to Memphis, Tennessee, until 1942.
His first recordings were for Paramount in Grafton Wisconsin in 1930; My Black
Mama, Dry
Spell Blues, Preachin'
The Blues and an unreleased version of Walking Blues. Lyrically and musically
they were masterpieces. He recorded again in the very early 40s including The
Jinx Blues, Levee
Camp Blues, Government Fleet Blues, Shetland Pony Blues, Fo'Clock Blues and Camp
Hollers. When his dear friend and
musical partner Willie Brown died, Son totally gave up playing
guitar and left his music life behind. Luckily in the 60s he was tracked down
by blues afficianodos Dick Waterman, Nick Perls and Phil Spiro. Al Wilson of Canned
Heat helped Son back into saddle and soon he was again playing professionally.
Over
the next 10 years he appeared at all the world top festivals, Newport Folk Festival,
the New York Folk Festival, the Montreux Jazz Festival to
mention a few. He toured extensively
in the US and Europe and
in 1965 he recorded some powerful tracks, Death Letter Blues, Preachin' Blues,
Grinnin' In Your Face and more. In the summer of 1970, while touring Europe,
a recording of his London concerts was released by Liberty Records. Sadly
Son's health deteriorated, in 1974 he was forced to retired. He later moving to
Detroit, where he remained until his death.Son
was an important influence on the likes of Muddy Waters, Howling Wolf, Robert
and Tommy Johnson. A seminal Delta blues figure, he remains influential today,
with his music being covered by blues-rock groups such as The White Stripes and
slide
player John Mooney has
combined Son's Delta style with power trio Rock and New Orleans R&B to carry
Son's tradition into the 21st Century.
Several of Son's songs were also featured in the 2006 film soundtrack "Black
Snake Moan" (Son
sadly died from cancer of the larynx) b. March 21st
1902.1989:
Alan Murphy (35)
English rock session guitarist, famed for his collaborations with Kate Bush playing
on her tour of the Europe & UK in 1978. Both a live video and EP were released
with material taken form this tour. He also contributed to her albums Never for
Ever, The Dreaming, Hounds of Love and the single "Rocket Man".and
Go West. He performed with Fusion Orchestra in 1975. He was an in demand session
musician, playing with many
artists, including Go West, Long John
Baldry, Joan Armatrading, Mike and the Mechanics, Amii Stewart, Scritti Politti,
So and Miquel Brown. In 1988 he joined the group Level 42 as a full time band
member and played with them until his death (weakened by
the AIDS, he died of pneumonia) b. November 28th
1953.1995: Don
Cherry (58) African-American jazz cornetest;
he became well known in jazz in 1958 when he performed and recorded with Ornette
Coleman, first in a quintet with pianist Paul Bley and later in what became the
predominantly piano-less quartet which recorded for Atlantic Records. Don
also co-led the Avant-Garde session which saw John Coltrane replacing Ornette Coleman
in the Quartet. He also recorded and toured with Sonny Rollins, was a member of
the New York Contemporary Five with Archie Shepp and John Tchicai, recorded and
toured with Albert Ayler and with bandleader and composer George Russell. His
first recording as a leader was Complete Communion for Blue Note Records in 1965.
The band included Coleman's drummer Ed Blackwell as well as saxophonist Gato Barbieri,
whom he had met while touring Europe with Ayler. Don also ventured into the developing
genre of world fusion music, incorporating influences of Middle Eastern, traditional
African, and Indian music into his playing. He had studied Indian music with Vasant
Rai in the early seventies. From 1978 to 1982, he recorded three albums for ECM
with "world jazz" group Codona, consisting of himself, percussionist
Nana Vasconcelos and sitar and tabla player Collin Walcott (died
in Málaga, Spain, due to liver failure caused by hepatitis)b.
November 18th 1995.
1997: Glen Edward Buxton (49)American
lead guitarist and a founder member of the Alice Cooper Band. In 1964, while at
Cortez High School in Phoenix, he co-founded a rock band called The Earwigs, along
with high school students Dennis Dunaway and Vincent Furnier. They changed their
name to The Spiders in 1965, then to The Nazz in 1967, to avoid legal entanglements
with the Todd Rundgren-led "Nazz", Glen's band changed their name to
Alice Cooper in 1968.He
co-wrote o classic songs like "School's Out", "Elected," "I'm
Eighteen", and "10 Minutes Before the Worm" and is credited as
lead guitarist on 7 albums by the Alice Cooper band, including the chart-topping
Billion Dollar Babies. Throughout the late '70s and '80s, he maintained a low
profile, playing only occasional club gigs with obscure bands like Shrapnel and
Virgin. In 2003, Rolling Stone magazine ranked Glen number 90 on the "100
Greatest Guitarists of All Time" (pneumonia)b. November 10th 1947.2000: Hortense Ellis (59)Jamaican reggae musician, and the younger sister of fellow
artist, Alton Ellis.During the 1960s, she toured Jamaica with Byron Lee and The
Dragonaires and had begun recording with some of the island's top producers such
as Ken Lack - "I Shall Sing", "Hell And Sorrow" and "Brown
Girl In The Ring"; Coxsone Dodd - "Twelve Minutes To Go", "Ill
Come Softly" and Duke Reid. In 1970 she and Alton toured Canada. Her
recording of "Unexpected Places"
was a big hit in Jamaica and also in Britain big
hit in the late 70s. Hortense became Queen Tiney for her "Down Town Ting",
an "answer" record to Althea and Donna's big hit "Uptown Top Ranking"
(sadly
Hortense
died from a stomach infection)
b. April 18th 1941. 2005: Ryan Dallas Cook (23)American trombone
player, born in Huntington Beach, CA; better known to his fans as Dallas Cook,
was one of two trombone players in third-wave ska band Suburban Legends. He attended
Huntington Beach High School from 19962000, where he was a member of the
HBHS marching band, to which he attributed his love of music and performing. After
graduation, he joined local music group Suburban Legends. Dallas was well-known
for his choreographed dance routines with other members of the band including
flips, handstands, balancing his trombone on the palm
of his hand, and jumping on the shoulders of fellow band mate and best friend
Brian Robertson. He appeared on thier 1998 Bomb Squad EP and following five albums
(Tragically Ryan died as a result of a motorcycle accident
on the Costa Mesa Freeway, California where he collided with a Hyundai automobile.
The driver of the Hyundai fled the scene after the accident. Dallas never recovered
consciousness and died on the scene)
b. June
5th 1982.2007:
LaLa Brown/Yolanda
Brown
(21)
American R&B singer and protégé of Lyfe Jennings. She was an
up and coming young artist, best known for her Top 10 R&B hit single S.E.X.
(La La & her producer, JeTannue Clayborn, were found dead in their Milwaukee
Loud Enuff Productionz recording studio, both had gunshot wounds and had been
dead at least a day before being discovered)
b. May 20th 1986.2008: Gianni Raimondi (85)
Italian operatic tenor, particularly associated with the Italian composers;
he made his debut there in 1948, as Ernesto in Donizetti's Don Pasquale, going
on to perform world wide. Disappointingly he made few studio recordings, given
the length of his career and the sheer number of internationally distinguished
opera houses where he sang (?) b. April 17th 1923.2008: Gail Robinson (62) American c soprano
who sang with many of the world's leading opera companies during the 1970s and
1980s. She was a winner in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions which
started her professional career. After her performance career ended she taught
singing to young artists and also directed the Metropolitan Opera's Young Artist
Program for over ten years. Upon leaving the Met, she joined the voice faculty
at the University of Kentucky. (complications from rheumatoid
arthritis)b. August 7th 1946.2009:
Paul Lagos (69)American drummer with the psychedelic folk band Kaleidoscope.
He also played with the Johnny Otis Band and with John Mayall's "USA Union"
tour and featured on the album. Paul formed Pure Food and Drug Act in the early
'70s (heart attack?)b.19402011: Earl Gilliam (81) American blues pianist,
born in Lafayette, La, but moved to New Waverly as a child with his family. He
was a self-taught pianist, from an early age and started playing piano at the
local Baptist church when he was ten only years old, and by the time he was 17,
he was fronting his own blues band. He moved to Houston when he was 19, quickly
becoming a sought-after sideman, playing with Johnny Copeland, Albert Collins,
Gatemouth Brown, and others, as well as cutting several singles with the Sarge,
Ivory Twist, and Going Upstairs imprints in the 1950s. Earl started playing with
Joe "Guitar" Hughes in the 1980s, appearing on three CDs with him. More
recentely following Joe's death, Earl started hosting regular jam sessions in
his garage, which he called "the doghouse", and he hooked up with former
Duke-Peacock session guitarist I.J. Gosey, and they released their debut album
of soulful jazz and blues, "Texas Doghouse Blues", in 2005 (sadly
Earl has died from lung cancer)b. January 13th 1930.2012:
Mary Campbell (78) American music reporter born in Mount Sterling,
Ill; her childhood affection for the big bands and opera she heard on her radio,
set the stage for over four decades as a music writer for The Associated Press.
From symphony to rock 'n' roll, from Duke Ellington to Beverly Sills to the Dixie
Chicks, from Tony Bennett to Mick Jagger to members of the New York Philharmonic,
she covered the whole musical scene, earning respect from the artists she wrote
about and devotion from the public who followed her profiles and reviews (?)
b. 1934. 2013: Lage
Fosheim (55)Norwegian singer, promoter and one
half of the pop-ska duo, The Monroes, which was formed in 1982 by
Lage Fosheim and guitarist Eivind Rølles,
both former members of "Broadway News", a popular pop act in Oslo during
the 70s. They released their debut album, Sunday People in '83, which was followed
by, Face Another Day, in 1985, which sold over 250,000 copies, making them one
of the best selling artists in Norwegian music history and one of the few to have
a Top 10 song in the United States with their Norwegian No 1 hit "Cheerio".
Following 2 more studio albums and a compilation, the duo disbanded in 1993, but
they continued to work together sporadically with several one-off reunions until
the death of
Eivind earlier this year. From
1995-2008 Lage also worked as a promo director at Universal Music/PolyGram. After
which he worked as an artist and concert manager, managering
artists such as Jahn Teigen
(sadly, like Eivind earlier this year, Lage
died while fighting cancer) b. February 5th 1958.2013: Mahmoud Zoufonoun (93)Iranian/Persian-American
violinist and accomplished
musician in the art of Persian traditional music. When he became interested in
the violin, he could not afford one, so he designed and made his own. In the 1930s
he moved to Shiraz where he learned musical notes from a clarinet teacher and
took lessons in the violin. In the early 1940s he began playing solo's on Radio
Iran and in 1942 he helped form Anjomane Mooseeghee Melli where he met Rouhollah
Khaleghi, who conducted the orchestra. He worked as a soloist, composer, arranger
and conductor at the National Radio and Television and was a member of the Golha
orchestra. Over the course of his career he has made efforts to compile,
transcribe a compilation of regional folk songs, modes, and styles to date, but
it is at present incomplete. Following his retirement in 1976 from the National
Radio and Television, Mahmoud and his family emigrated to the USA, where he continued
to teach and compose and perform traditional Persian music, usually with his sons
as the Zoufonoun Ensemble. (?)
b. January 1st 1920.2013:
Ronald Shannon Jackson (73)American drummer
born in Fort Worth; he graduated from
I.M. Terrell High, where he played with the marching band and learned about symphonic
percussion and by the age of 15, he was playing drums professionally. A pioneer
of avant-garde jazz, free funk, and jazz fusion, he appeared on over 50 albums
as a bandleader, sideman, arranger, producer and throughout his career worked
with many of the greats. He and bassist Sirone are the only musicians to have
performed and recorded with the three prime shapers of free jazz: pianist Cecil
Taylor, and saxophonists Ornette Coleman and Albert Ayler. In 1979, he founded
his own group, the Decoding Society, playing what has been dubbed free funk: a
blend of funk rhythm and free jazz improvisation. Over the years his band has
featured luminaries such as Akbar Ali, Bern Nix, Billy Bang, Byrad Lancaster,
Cary Denigris, Charles Brackeen, David Fiuczynski, David Gordon, Tomchess, Dominic
Richards, Eric Person, Henry Scott, Jef Lee Johnson, John Moody, Khan Jamal, Lee
Rozie, Masujaa, Melvin Gibbs, Onaje Allan Gumbs, Reggie Washington, Reverend Bruce
Johnson, Vernon Reid, Robin Eubanks and Zane Massey(sadly died of leukemia)
b. January 12th 1940.2013:
Noel Harrison (79)British singer, actor, Olympic
skier and
son of the actor Rex Harrison born in London to Rex's first of six wives, Collette
Thomas. He joined the Ipswich repertory theatre group and taught himself guitar,
but his main interest at that time was skiing. At an early age he was a member
of the British ski team, becoming its first giant-slalom champion in 1953 and
representing Great Britain at the 1952 Winter Olympics in Oslo, Norway and at
the 1956 Winter Olympics in Italy. When he was 20, he started playing his guitar
and singing professionally, around the tables in a Greek restaurant in London.
He also made a living playing in bars and clubs all over Europe, including appearances
at the legendary Blue Angel Club, where one show was recorded for a live album.
He left for the United States in 1965, working as a>>> READ
MORE<<< (sadly Noel died in hospital following a heart attack at
his home in Devon, England, just a few hours after he had performed that same
evening) b. January 29th 1934. 2014:
Stephen Paulus (65)American
composer, born in Summit, New Jersey, but moved to Minnesota when he was two,
where he attended the University of Minnesota. By 1983, he was named the Composer-in-Residence
at the Minnesota Orchestra, and in 1988 he was also named to the same post at
the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, whose then-conductor Robert Shaw commissioned
numerous choral works from Paulus for Shaw's eponymous vocal ensemble. After the
premiere of his second opera, The Postman Always Rings Twice, he began a fruitful
collaboration with the Opera Theatre of St. Louis that would result in four more
operas. In a career which encompassed more than forty years of composition
his output came to include over 450 works for chorus, orchestra, chamber ensemble,
opera, solo voice, piano, guitar, organ, and band. (sadly
died with complications from a stroke) b.
August 24th 1949.2014:
John Holt (67)Jamaican
singer, songwriter and reggae pioneer born in the Greenwich Farm
area of Kingston of Jamaica, and by the age of 12, he was a regular entrant in
talent contests run at Jamaican theatres by Vere Johns. His final victory came
in 1962, when he performed Solomon Burke's "Just Out of Reach". The
talented teen was quickly snapped up by producer Leslie Kong, who recorded John's
debut single, "Forever I'll Stay"/"I Cried a Tear". At this
period of time he also recorded duets with Alton Ellis, debuting the partnership
with "Rum Bumper". He got his big break in 1964 when he joined the vocal
group the Paragons, as lead singer, replacing>>>READ
MORE<<<(He
was taken ill at the One Love Festival on August 16th 2014, an illness from which
sadly he never recovered)b. July 11th 1947. 2014:
Raphael Ravenscroft (60) British saxophonist, composer, tutor
and author,
born in in Stoke-on-Trent was influenced as a young musician by Jimi Hendrix,
whose guitar solos he used to learn by heart. He is best known by most, for his
work with Gerry Rafferty, which catapulted him into fame, performing the renowned
eight-bar haunting saxophone riff on the 1978 song "Baker Street". He
was paid only £27 for the session and then the cheque bounced! But in contrast,
the song is said to have earned him £80,000 a year in royalties >>>READ
MORE<<<(sadly
Raphael died from a
suspected heart attack) b.
June 4th 1954.2015: Patricia Kern (88)
Welsh mezzo-soprano and voice teacher, born in Swansea, Wales. She began her career
with Opera for All (195255). In 1959 she joined Sadlers Wells, making
her début in Rusalka; for ten seasons she was a member of the company,
her most notable achievement being her interpretations of La Cenerentola, Rosina
in The Barber of Seville, Isolier - Le comte Ory and Isabella - L'italiana in
Algeri. She made her American début at Washington, DC, in 1969 and in 1987
she sang Marcellina in Chicago. She went on to teach Voice at the University of
Toronto, her pupils included James Westman, Russell Braun,
Brett Polegato, Jean Stilwell, and Kimberly Barber.(?)
b.July 14th 1927.2016:
Bobby Ellis (84)Jamaican trumpeter, born in
Kingston where he attended the Alpha Boys School which is famous for its musical
alumni. He went on to work with many reggae artists including Peter Tosh, Burning
Spear, who he toured with for 12 years, and The Revolutionaries. He also acted
as arranger for producer Jack Ruby and was part of Ruby's studio band the Black
Disciples. In October 2014 Bobby was honoured with the Order of Distinction (sadly
died from a pneumonia-related illness) b. July 2nd 1932.October
20th.1977: Ronnie
Van Zant (29) American singer; lead vocalist,
lyricist, and a founding member of the Southern Rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd. He was
the oldest brother of .38 Special founder and vocalist Donnie Van Zant and Lynyrd
Skynyrd lead vocalist Johnny Van Zant. Born in Jacksonville, Florida, Ronnie
formed Skynyrd late in the summer of 1964 with friends and schoolmates Allen Collins,
Gary Rossington, Larry Junstrom, and Bob Burns. Lynyrd Skynyrd's name was inspired
by a gym teacher the boys had in high school, Leonard Skinner, who disapproved
of students with long hair. Their fan base grow rapidly throughout 1973, mainly
due to their opening slot on The Who's Quadrophenia tour in the United States.
Their debut self titled album produced the hit Freebird, the track achieved the
No. 3 spot on Guitar World's 100 Greatest Guitar Solos. Their second album in
1974, Second Helping, featured their most popular single, "Sweet Home Alabama",
a tongue in cheek response to Neil Young's "Alabama" and "Southern
Man". (Died in a plane crash. Four band members
were killed along with the pilot, Walter McCreary and co-pilot, William Gray when
the band's rented plane, a Convair 240, ran out of fuel and crashed into a swamp
in Gillsburg, Missouri) b.
January 15th 1948.1977:
Steve Gaines (27)US
guitarist and vocalist with the Lynyrd Skynyrd band. Born in Seneca, Missouri
and raised in Miami, Oklahoma. He began playing guitar after seeing The Beatles
in concert as a teenager. He played with RIO
Smokehouse, The Ravens, Rusty Day, Detroit and Crawdada, before joining the Lynyrd
Skynyrd band, replacing guitarist Ed King in 1976. His skills were a major contribution
to the band, as proven on the 1977 album Street Survivors.(same aircrash as above)
b. Sept 14th 1977.1977: Cassie Gaines (29)US singer and
older sister of Steve Gaines. Cassie was a member of the
female gospel vocal trio The Honkettes, who in 1975 became the backup singers
for Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd (air crash as above)
b. Jan 9th 1948.1977:
Dean Kilpatrick (?)Assistant road manager
of the Lynyrd Skynyrd band (air crash as above)b.?1983: Merle Travis (65)American country music singer, songwriter;
born in Rosewood, Kentucky. His lyrics often discussed the life and exploitation
of coal miners. Among his many songs are "Sixteen Tons" and "Dark
as a Dungeon". However, it is his masterful guitar playing and his interpretations
of the rich musical traditions of his native Muhlenberg County, Kentucky for which
he is best known today. "Travis picking", a syncopated style of finger
picking, is named after him. He was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall
of Fame in 1970 and elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1977. (died of
a massive heart attack at his Tahlequah, Oklahoma home) b.
November 29th 1917.1984: Albert "Budd"
Johnson (73)American tenor saxophonist
from Dallas, Texas; he started out on drums and piano before switching to tenor
sax. In the 1920s he performed in Texas and parts of the Midwest, working with
Jesse Stone among others. He made his recording debut while working with Louis
Armstrong's band in 1932-1933, but is more known for his work with Earl Hines.
He was also an early figure in the bebop era doing sessions with Coleman Hawkins
in 1944. In the 1950s he led his own group and did some session work for Atlantic
Records, he is the featured tenor saxophone soloist on Ruth Brown's hit, "Teardrops
from My Eyes". In the 1960s he worked with Quincy Jones, Count Basie, Gil
Evans and again with Earl Hines.
1975
saw him working with the New York Jazz Repertory Orchestra. Budd was inducted
into the Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame in 1993(?)b.
December
14th 1910.1992: Werner Torkanowsky (66)German
conductor in both the concert hall and opera house; he
was born in Berlin, Germany, and raised on a kibbutz in Israel, and relocated
to the United States in 1948 to study the violin. From 1954 to 1958, he studied
conducting under Pierre Monteux. Following his debut with the Ballets Espagnoles,
he became Music Director of Jerome Robbins's "Ballet USA." In 1959,
Werner made his debut with the New York City Opera, with Gian Carlo Menotti's
The Medium. He went on to conduct many major orchestras, including those in Israel,
New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles and Detroit, as well as at
the Spoleto Festival(?)b. March 30th 19261997:
Henry "The Sunflower" Vestine(52) American guitar player born in Takoma Park,
Maryland; at an early age he accompanied his father on canvasses of black neighborhoods
for old recordings, Henry became an avid collector, eventually coming to own tens
of thousands of recordings of blues, hillbilly, country, and Cajun music. Throughout
the early to mid 1960s Henry played in various musical configurations and eventually
was hired by Frank Zappa for the original Mothers of Invention. But Henry is known
mainly as a member of the band Canned Heat. He was with the group from its start
in 1966 to July 1969. In later years he played in local bands but occasionally
returned to Canned Heat for a few tours and recordings.In
2003 Henry was ranked 77th in Rolling Stone magazine list of the "100 Greatest
Guitarists of All Time" (died from heart and respiratory
failure in a hotel outside Paris after the band had completed a tour of France)
b.
December 25th 1944.2005:
Shirley Horn (71)American jazz singer, pianist; she collaborated with
many jazz greats including Miles Davis, influencing each other; Dizzy Gillespie,
Toots Thielemans, Ron Carter, Carmen McRae, Wynton Marsalis and others. She was
most noted for her ability to accompany herself with nearly incomparable independence
and ability on the piano while singing. She was nominated for nine Grammy Awards
during her career, winning in 1999 for Jazz Vocal Album for "I Remember Miles",
a tribute to her friend and encourager. Preferring
to perform in small settings, as with her trio, she recorded with orchestra too,
as on the 1992 album "Here's to life", which is highly rated by her
fans, the title song being generally considered as her signature song. A video
documentary of Shirley's life and music was released at the same time as "Here's
To Life" and shared its title. She was officially recognized by the 109th
US Congress for "her many achievements and contributions to the world of
jazz and American culture", and performed at The White House for several
U.S. presidents. Shirley was awarded an honorary Doctor of Music degree from the
Berklee College of Music in 2002. She was awarded the National Endowment for the
Arts Jazz Masters Award in 2005., the highest honors that the United States bestows
upon jazz musicians (She
had been battling breast cancer and diabetes when she died from complications
of a massive stroke)b. May
1st 1934.2007: Paul Raven (46)
English rock bassist born in Wolverhampton, best known for his work in the seminal
punk-goth-metal-electronic group Killing Joke, playing with them through its most
commercially successful period, appearing on the 'Fire Dances', 'Night Time' and
'Brighter than a Thousand Suns' albums, before leaving during the recording of
1988's 'Outside the Gate', rejoining in time for 1990's 'Extremities, Dirt &
Various Repressed Emotions'. He later played in the alternative rock/ industrial
rock bands Prong and Ministry. His early musical career included stints in Neon
Hearts and the 1982 glam rock band, Kitsch. (heart attack)
b. january 16th 1961.2009: Liam Maher (41)UK singer, who fronted the
baggy band Flowered Up, which he helped form in
Camden, London in 1989 along with keyboardist
Tim Dorney, guitarist Joe Maher, bassist Andy Jackson, drummer John Tovey, and
Barry Mooncult, who wasn't really a member of the band but danced on-stage with
a giant flower around his neck. The
band appeared on the covers of both NME and Melody Maker before releasing the
club anthem 'It's On' in the summer of 1990, which was followed up with 'Phobia'
that autumn; both reached the Top 40 on the U.K. charts. Flowered Up were best
known for their Top 20 single 'Weekender', the 12-minute, 55-second track being
their highest charting single.
They
released their only album 'A Life With Brian' in 1991 and the band split in 1994.
Liam signed up to Alan McGee's Poptones record label in 2001, but the deal fell
through before anything was released. Flowered
Up,
reunited
in 2005 for several gigs with Happy Mondays (details
of Liams death not yet released)b. ????2010: Ari Up/Ariane Forster (48)German-born
British singer born in Munich; Ari was only 14 when she formed the UK punk rock
band The Slits with drummer Palmolive in 1976. By the late seventies, they were
touring as the opening act for the The Clash. Ari Up's love of reggae led The
Slits into a "jungly", dub style. She was the most flamboyant member
of the group. Her wild hair and crazy stage outfits became her trademarks. Her
1977 performances with The Slits are featured in The Punk Rock Movie, a 1992 release
of various punk group club performances, principally at The Roxy. After The Slits
split in 1981, she moved with her husband and twin children to jungle regions
of Indonesia and Belize, living among indigenous people in those areas. Later,
they moved to Jamaica, eventually settling in Kingston. She continued
to make music, first with the New Age Steppers, then solo as Baby Ari, Madussa,
and Ari Up. In 2006 Ari Up reformed The Slits releasing an EP and later toured
in Europe, North America, Australia, and Japan. She occasionally played solo concerts
in New York, and toured the UK with her backing band 'The True Warriors'. She
also recorded with the Jammyland All Stars, Brave New Girl, Dubistry, and the
German techno-dancehall outfit, Terranova. Ari Up appeared on Lee "Scratch"
Perry's 2008 album, Repentance, and performed a duet on a cover version of The
Yardbirds' song "Mister You're a Better Man Than I" on Mark Stewart's
2008 album, Edit. In July 2009, she performed with Perry and Austrian dub band
Dubblestandart in Brooklyn, New York just prior to the Central Park SummerStage
festival. One of Ari's last recordings done in May 2010 in New York was on a track
with Lee Scratch Perry recorded by Subatomic Sound System and released in August
2010 on 7" vinyl called "Hello, Hell is Very Low" b/w "Bed
Athletes" (sadly lost her battle with cancer)
b. January 17th 1962.2011: Robert Hunter (36)Australian rapper and lyricist, as well as serving
as a founder of Australia's growing hip-hop scene in Perth,
he was also a founding member of the MC collective
Syllabolix Crew, which spawned the likes of Layla
Dazastah, Downsyde and Drapht. He released
four albums, with songs he crafted like 'Never Commit' (sadly
Robert died after a brave battle with cancer) b.
October 1st 1975. 2012: Przemyslaw Gintrowski (60)Polish composer and musician who debuted in 1976 on a review
of the Warsaw Riviera with the song Epitaph for Sergei Yesenin. In
1979, he formed a trio with Jacek Kaczmarski and Zbigniew Lapinski, and initiated
a poetic programme Mury (Walls) which became an informal
anthem of "Solidarity" and the symbol of the fight against the regime.
With the declaration of martial law in December 1981 Trio broke up and he started
his own artistic activity. He made his debut as a composer of film music 
during the next ten years he created music for over twenty fictional films and
serials. On August 31, 2006 he was awarded by President Lech Kaczynski with The
Order of Polonia Restituta (?)
b. December 21st 19512015:
K. S. L. Swamy aka Lalitha Ravee (77)Indian
film director, actor and playback singer, born in the Kingdom of Mysore. He entered
cinema at an early age as an assistant to legendary filmmakers of the time such
as G.V.Iyer and M.R. Vittal. He debuted as an independent film director with the
1966 film, Thoogudeepa. His other popular films include "Lagna Pathrike",
"Gandhinagara", "Driver Hanumantha", "Huli Hejje",
"Bhagya
Jyothi", "Malaya Marutha" and his
1989 film "Jamboo Savari" won the National Film Award for Best Children's
Film at the 37th National Film Awards. He was awarded the Padma Bhushan Dr. B.
Saroja Devi National Award in 2013. He was also an adept singer, well known for
the song "Suryangu Chandrangu" from the movie Shubhamangala and "Ille
Swarga Ille Naraka" from the movie Naagara Hole. (sadly
Lalitha
died with respiratory complications)
b. 1938.2015:
Don Rendell (89)English jazz musician; he bagan
his jazz career at the age of fifteen, with the alto saxophone, switching to tenor
after a few years. His earliest professional engagements were with big bands,
first on U.S. bases for the U.S.O. in 1944, and then with the Oscar Rabin Band,
among others. In 1950 he became a member of the Johnny Dankworth Seven, remaining
until 1953. He started to lead his
own groups; from 1954 these often featured Ronnie Ross. He also spent time working
with Tony Crombie and Ted Heath, toured Europe with Stan Kenton in 1956, played
with Woody Herman's Anglo-American Herd in 1959, and led a group accompanying
Billie Holiday when she toured in the UK. His own groups featured musicians such
as Graham Bond, Michael Garrick, Barbara Thompson, John Burch and Ian Carr. In
1963 he and Carr formed the RendellCarr Quintet, which performed and recorded
for some seven years. (sadly
Don died after a short illness) b. March 4th 1926. 2015: Cory Wells/Emil Lewandowski (74)
American singer born in n Buffalo, New York
into a family with several polka musicians among his relatives. He was brought
up in a rough area and suffered an abusive step-father, but while still in school
he formed a band called The Enemies, before joining the US Air Force directly
after high school. While in the Air Force, he formed a band of interracial musical
performers, inspired by his boyhood love of a similar popular band called The
Del-Vikings. Following his military tour of duty, he returned to Buffalo and joined
a band named the Vibratos. He travelled to California with the band, where they
changed their name to "The Enemys". After the band had been house band
at the Whisky a Go Go for a year and appearing in several movies and TV shows
including The Beverly Hillbillies, Burke's Law, Riot on Sunset Strip, Harper with
Paul Newman and Shelley Winters, Cory was asked by the singer Cher if the band
would tour >>>READ
MORE<<<
(Cory died at home in his sleep) b. February 2nd
1941. 2016:
Achieng Abura (??)Kenyan Afro-jazz, Afro-fusion
and gospel singer born in Eldoret. She debuted into the music industry in the
early 1990 with a gospel album I Believe. Her following albums were
Way Over Yonder and Sulwe. She won the Kora Award in 2004
for Best East African Female artiste. She later became a UNDP Goodwill ambassador.
Achieng was also part of the Divas of The Nile supergroup, the group performed
at the Festival Mundial in Tilburg, Netherlands in 2007. She was also the voice
of 'Crow' from "Tinga Tinga Tales", a BritishKenyan children's
television series, based on African folk tales, aimed at 4 to 6-year-olds.
(?) b. ????.2016: Mieke Telkamp (82)Dutch singer she became famous in 1953 with Lord In My Heart,
which was followed by a string of hits including "Never on Sunday" and
"Changing Of The Tides"; her biggest hit was "Prego, Prego Gondeliere".
Mieke won the first prize in 1957, the Golden Gondola, during the Venice Festival
and sung in the 1962 Eurovision Knokke and in 1964 Snip and Snap Revue. In 1978
the first person in show business who was appointed Knight in the Order of Orange-Nassau.
She made her final performance in March 2011 before retiring to Zeist.(?) b. June 14th 1934.

October
21st.1965:
William Patton "Bill" Black Jr (39)American
bass and double bass player
born in Memphis, Tennessee, he first played music on a cigar box with a board
nailed to it and with strings attached made by his father. By the age of sixteen
Black was playing in local bars and clubs before an army stint and then joining
Scotty Moore to form a band. In early July 1954, Sam Phillips of Sun Records,
set up a green young man named Elvis Presley with guitarist Scotty Moore, who
called Bill to help out. The
trio rehearsed dozens of songs, from traditional country, to "Harbor Lights",
to gospel. The search for another song to release along with "That's All
Right" at Sun Records in July 1954 led to "Blue Moon of Kentucky"
via Bill. He went on to play double bass on all early Presley recordings including
"Good Rockin' Tonight", "Heartbreak Hotel", "Baby Let's
Play House", "Mystery Train", "That's All Right", "Hound
Dog", and became one of the first bass players to use the Fender Precision
Bass- electric bass guitar in popular music, on "Jailhouse Rock" in
the late 1950s. In 1959, after leaving Elvis, he joined a Memphis group that soon
evolved into the Bill Black's Combo, releasing hits such "Smokie" in
December 1959, followed by "Smokie, Part 2", "White Silver Sands",
"Josephine", "Don't Be Cruel", "Blue Tango", "Hearts
of Stone" and others. Bill Black's Combo cut more than 20 albums, toured
the United States and Europe and won awards as the best instrumental group in
America in 1966 and 1967. Bill's stand-up bass is today owned by ex-Beatle Paul
McCartney, who received it as a birthday present from his late wife Linda McCartney
in the late 1970s. The Bill Black Combo created musical history in 1964 when they
became the opening act for the Beatles on their historical 13-city tour of America
after their appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show. Sadly Bill himself was not well
enough to make the tour (he died four months after surgery
to remove a brain tumour) b. September 17th 1926.1969: Jean-Louis "Jack" Kerouac (47)
American poet and writer, author of Beat Generation; after the release of his
book On the Road in 1957, he got instant fame, he was hailed as a major American
writer and considered by some as the King of the Beatniks as well as the Father
of the Hippies, influencing the likes of Bob Dylan. He is recognized for his spontaneous
method of writing, covering topics such as Catholic spirituality, jazz, promiscuity,
Buddhism, drugs, poverty, and travel. His writings have inspired other writers,
including Ken Kesey, Bob Dylan, Richard Brautigan, Thomas Pynchon, Lester Bangs,
Tom Robbins, Will Clarke, and Haruki Murakami. He became an underground celebrity
and, with other beats, a progenitor of the Hippie movement, although he remained
antagonistic toward it. Since his death his literary prestige has grown and several
previously unseen works have been published. All of his books are in print today,
among them: On the Road, Doctor Sax, The Dharma Bums, Mexico City Blues, The Subterraneans,
Desolation Angels, Visions of Cody and Big Sur (sadly Jack
died from cirrhosis of the liver) b. March 12th 1922.1990: Jo
Ann Kelly (46)English
blues singer and guitarist favouring delta style rather than rocking out with
a heavy band behind her, but with a huge voice, and a strong guitar. Born in Streatham,
London. She established a musical partnership with the British blues
musician Tony McPhee, and appeared on two McPhee compiled albums for Liberty Records,
"Me And The Devil" in 1968 and "I Asked for Water, She Gave Me
Gasoline" in 1969. At the end of the 1960s, with an album on a major record
label in the United States, both Johnny Winter and Canned Heat tried to recruit
Jo Ann into their ranks. However, she stayed and played the UK's nightclub scene,
and participated in many musical projects with her brother Dave Kelly and performed
on the European circuit, with the guitarist Pete Emery or in bands, including
the Terry Smith Blues Band (In 1988, Jo Ann began to suffer from headaches. In
1989 she had an operation to remove a malignant brain tumour, she seemed to have
recovered, but the following year she tragically collapsed and died after touring
again with her brother) b. January 5th 1944.1995: Maxene
Andrews (79) American high harmony singer in
The Andrews Sisters, born in Minnesota. Throughout
their long career, the sisters sold over 75 million records and became the best-selling
female vocal group in the history of popular music setting records that remain
unsurpassed to this day. The sisters charted with 113 Billboard hits, 46 of these
reaching Top 10 status. They were inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in
1998. Maxene started a solo career in 1979 releasing the album 'Maxene: An Andrews
Sister' in 1990. Her last performance was on October 8th 1995, in the show 'Swing
Time Canteen', at New York's Blue Angel Theatre. (?) b. January 3rd 1916.1995:
Richard Shannon Hoon (28)American singer, songwriter and guitarist;
born and raised in Lafayette, Indiana, after graduating from McCutcheon High School
he fronted two local bands Styff Kitten and Mank Rage. He also composed his first
song at this time "Change". He relocated to LA where he met musicians
Brad Smith and Rogers Stevens and they formed the band Blind Melon, and soon had
a recording contract with Capitol Records. He also met up with Axl Rose of Guns
'n' Roses, who were recording their albums Use Your Illusion I and Use Your Illusion
II. Richard sang backing vocals on several of the tracks, including "The
Garden" and "Don't Cry". Axl also invited him to appear in the
video for "Don't Cry". In 1992, Blind Melon released their self-titled
debut album, it sold poorly until the single "No Rain" was released
in September of 1993 and the album went quadruple-platinum. In 1994, they their
second album 'Soup', released in 1995. They went on tour to promote the album,
which sadly was Richard's last album and tour (Richard was
found dead on the band's tour bus, tragically he had died from a heart attack,
due to a cocaine overdose, while in New Orleans)b.
September 26th 1967. 2003:
Elliott Smith (34) Folk-punk singer, mult-musician, songwriter,
born in Omaha, Nebraska; his primary instrument was the guitar, but he was also
proficient at piano, clarinet, bass guitar, drums, and harmonica. Elliott was
a founder member of the indie rock band Heatmiser formed in Portland in 1991.
The following year they recorded an EP 'The Music of Heatmiser' and thier first
album 'Dead Air' in 1993. After leaving Heatmiser, Elliott began his solo career
in 1994 and rose to mainstream fame when his song "Miss Misery", was
nominated for an Oscar in the Best Original Song category in 1998. The track was
also included in the soundtrack for the film Good Will Hunting. He was working
on his sixth at the time of his death (he died from two
stab wounds to the chest. The autopsy evidence was inconclusive as to whether
the wounds were self-inflicted)b. August 6th 1969.2007: Paul Fox (56)British guitarist, singer; a founder member of the UK punk band, The Ruts.
When the original lead singer Malcolm Owen died of a heroin overdose the band
continued with Paul on vocals, renaming themselves Ruts DC. When the band broke
in the early 1980s, he joined the London rock band Dirty Strangers, who recorded
two albums, on which The Rolling Stones members, Keith Richards and Ron Wood,
both guested on. He went on to form Choir Militia, in '83, after which he worked
with Screaming Lobsters in 1987 and Fluffy Kittens from 1991 to 1994, retaining
hard-core fan interest. From this point on his musical career was combined with
carpentry, but he cut singles with the Chelsea Punk Rock Allstars in 1997, and
ska legend Laurel Aitken in 2000. Paul revived the Ruts name and songs in 2006,
touring with a line up known as Foxy's Ruts (lung cancer)b. April 11th 1951.2007:
Lance Hahn (40)American guitarist and
frontman, born in Hawaii, but relocated to San Francisco and then Austin, TX.
He started his recording career in the Hawaiin band Cringer, recordinging numbers
such as Perversion Is Their Destiny and Zen Flesh, Zen Bones. Then in 1991 he
formed the punk rock band J Church, releasing 8 albums before his death. Along
side the band, Lance also released a solo acoustic record under the name 'Cilantro'
(after his favourite smell), as well as working as Beck's touring guitarist in
1994-5 and was in the final line-up of Bay Area pop-punk band Monsula in the early
1990s. He had also run Honey Bear Records (named after Winnie The Pooh) since
1994 and wrote extensive "punk rock history" articles for Maximumrocknroll.
(Lance died of kidney disease, he sadly suffered a collapse
during dialysis)b.
February 15th 1967.2008:
Peter Levinson (74) American music industry biographer; he spent nearly
fifty years in the music industry as a promoter and representative for stars such
as Count Basie, Artie Shaw, Woody Herman, Lalo Schifrin, Antonio Carlos Jobim,
Chuck Mangione, Dave Brubeck, Rosemary Clooney, Erroll Garner, Stan Getz, Peggy
Lee, Bill Evans, Dexter Gordon, Maynard Ferguson, Pete Fountain, Art Garfunkel,
Bud Shank, Phyllis Diller, George Shearing, Chick Corea, Jim Hall, Benny Carter,
Charlie Byrd, Louie Bellson, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Jack Lemmon and Mel Torme. His
publicity work also extended into television and film. He contracted amyotrophic
lateral sclerosis in 2006, which prevented him from speaking;
he used a type-to-speech computer and continued writing
(he died after a fall at his home in Malibu, CA)b. July 1st 1934.2009: Clinton Ford/ Ian George Stopford Harrison (77)British singer who had his first taste of chart success in 1959, with
a cover of the Red Foley penned song "Old Shep", his next chart entry
was "Too Many Beautiful Girls" in a trad jazz style, followed by his
biggest hit, a rendition of the 1935 George Formby song "Fanlight Fanny".
This led to an album that reached No.16 in the UK Albums Chart in May 1962. After
touring for a while with Kenny Ball & His Jazzmen, he returned for a stint
at Liverpool's Cavern Club, to find that the market for trad jazz and country
n western styled novelties had been replaced by the beat music of a certain local
band called The Beatles. He was though, in great demand on BBC Radio programmes,
such as Saturday Club where a live singer was required, to sing standards and
also covers of current hit songs. His final UK hit "Run To The Door"
was issued on the Piccadilly Records label in 1967 (died
after a long illness in the Isle of Man where he had been living for many years)
b. November 4th 1931. 2009:
Sirone/ Norris Jones (69)American jazz bassist and composer,
he worked in Atlanta in the late 50s and early 60s with "The Group"
alongside George Adams; he also recorded with R&B musicians such as Sam Cooke
and Smokey Robinson. He moved to New York in the mid '60s, where he co-founded
the "Untraditional Jazz Improvisational Team" with Dave Burrell. He
also worked with Marion Brown, Gato Barbieri, Pharoah Sanders, Noah Howard, Sonny
Sharrock, Sunny Murray, Albert Ayler, Archie Shepp, and Sun Ra. In 1971 he co-founded
the Revolutionary Ensemble with Leroy Jenkins and Frank Clayton, also in the 1970s
and early 1980s Sirone recorded with Clifford Thornton, Roswell Rudd, Dewey Redman,
Cecil Taylor, and Walt Dickerson. In the 1980s, he was member of Phalanx, a group
with guitarist James "Blood" Ulmer, drummer Rashied Ali, and tenor saxophonist
George Adams, before relocating to Germany in 1989, where he lived the remainder
of his life (died in Berlin, Germany)
b. September 28th 1948.2010: José Carbajal
(66)Uruguayan singer, guitarist, and composer
nicknamed el Sabalero; he was born in Puerto Sauce, Juan Lacaze, but
he moved to Montevideo and began performing in folk clubs in 1967. In the '70s
became famous throughout Latin America. Between
1970 and 1973 lived in Buenos Aires , and later the Uruguayan dictatorship forced
him to relocate to countries like Mexico, France and Spain and later he settled
in the Netherlands. He returned to his native country in 1984, but left for the
Netherlands again in 1992; he had been traveling back and forth between Uruguay
and the Netherlands until his death. He had many hit songs like "Children,
to my people" and "The Sencillito", and released around 20 albums
debuting with Popular song in 1969(he
sadly died from a cardiac arrest at his home in Canelones, Uruguay) b.
December 8th 1943.2010: Uccio Aloisi (82)Italian traditional singer and along with Uccio Bandello
and Uccio Melissano the founder, the folk group of Li Ucci touring Europe and
Italy. Over the years he has been a regular guest of the concert of the Notte
della Taranta that allowed him to collaborate with international artists such
as Buena Vista Social Club. In 2005 he was one of the main characters of the documentary
film Craj of Marengo (?) b. October 1st 1928.2011:
Freddie Ferrara (?)American rhythm and
blues singer with The Del-Satins and The Brooklyn Bridge. He was a founding member
of the vocal group Del-Satins in in 1958. In 1961 they recorded their debut single,
"I'll Pray for You" prior to signing Laurie Records. There they joined
forces with Dion, who wanted to replace his existing backing band, the Belmonts,
with a "rockier" sound. The Del-Satins were instantly sent to work on
his new song, "Runaround Sue", which then rose to number 1 in the Billboard
charts. Although their contribution to the hit was substantial, the Del-Satins
received no credit. They also sang on Dion's later solo hits, "The Wanderer",
"Lovers Who Wander", "Little Diane", "Love Came To Me",
"Ruby Baby", "Donna the Prima Donna" and "Drip Drop",
as well as on records by Len Barry and Jan and Dean. In the late 60s Freddie joined
up with The Brooklyn Bridge band where he sayed for the next 4 decades. In 2006,
the band was inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame. They are also members
of South Carolina's Rhythm and Blues Hall of Fame, the New England Vocal Group
Hall of Fame, and Harmony Group Hall of Fame, and recently the group were given
a star on the New Jersey Walk of Fame (sadly
died from a cardiac arrest)b.
????.2011: Edmundo Ros (100)Trinidadian bandleader, vocalist and arranger who made his career
in Britain. He directed a popular Latin American orchestra, had an extensive recording
career and owned one of London's leading nightclubs. Born in Port of Spain, Trinidad,
he enrolled in military academy where he became interested in music and learned
to play the euphonium. From 1927 to 1937 he lived in Caracas, Venezuela, where
he played in the Venezuelan Military Academy Band as well as being a tympanist
in the Venezuela Symphony Orchestra. He received a music scholarship from the
government, under which from 1937-42 he studied harmony, composition and orchestration
at the Royal Academy of Music, London...>>>READ
MORE<<<(Edmundo died peacefully
at his home in Spain) b. December 7th 1910. 2012:
Tim Johnson (52)American
country music songwriter born in the tiny logging community Noti, Oregon. When
Mickey Newbury heard Tim's songs he urged Tim to move to Nashville, Tennessee,
where he became a successful and respected songwriter with more than 100 major
label cuts including "I Let Her Lie", "God Only Cries", "Thank
God For Believers", "Do You Believe Me Now", "Things That
Never Cross a Man's Mind", "She
Misses Him" and "To Do What
I Do". Tim is also known for his collaborations with Rory Lee Feek of Joey
+ Rory, with whom he founded an organization called the Song Trust, in which works
by new artists were all credited to that name. Song Trust's first release was
"Bring Him Home Santa" in 2008(Tim sadly
died fighting cancer) b. 1960 2013:
Rune Torstein Kidde (56) Danish writer, storyteller,
singer, cartoonist and a multi-talented artist and has released humorous cartoons,
poems, novels, children's books and biographies. Born in Odense, he made radio
features to the Danish Children's Radio and was a folk singer, poet and dramatic.
As an accomplished singer he was a member in Trio Confetti. Also in 2000 he wrote
a libretto for the children's opera "Heksemutter Mortensen og den fede kalkun"
/ Witch Mother Mortensen and the Fat Turkey) for the The Danish Royal Theatre
and has also written lyrics for other artists including Nanna Lüders Jensen
and folk singer Bente Kure(?) b. September
27th 1957.2013:
Gianni Ferrio (88)Italian composer, conductor
and music arranger; born in Vicenza, he studied at Vicenza and Venice
conservatories. By the late 50s he was active as
a composer of film scores, signing about 120 sound-tracks especially for spaghetti
westerns and commedie sexy all'italiana. His piece "One Silver Dollar",
the main theme of the sound-track of Giorgio Ferroni's Un dollaro bucato, was
later included in the sound-track of Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds.
He was also well known for his work in pop music, particularly for his collaboration
with Mina, for whom he composed, among others, the hit song "Parole parole"
and he wrote arrangements and orchestrations for numerous of her songs and albums.
The last collaboration with Mina was for her 2012 album 12 (American Song Book),
for which Ferrio traditionally provided the string arrangements.He was the official
conductor for Sanremo Music Festival in 1959 and 1962 and for the Eurovision Song
Contest 1965.He also took part, as conductor, in several important Italian TV-shows(?) b. November 15th 1924. 2013:
Colonel Robert Morris (58)American drummer,
singer and songwriter; born in Whitehaven, Memphis, he was also known as The
Man With The Golden Pen. He was strongly connected to the Memphis Blues
and helped creating the Memphis Sound. During these early days he
played with Eddie Bond, B.B. King, Rufus Thomas, Ma Rainey, Little Laura Dukes,
Big Sam Clarke and many others. Later he played drums for Jerry Lee Lewis, Ronnie
Milsap, Charlie Rich and nearly five years for Charlie Feathers. In the 1980s
he recorded material with rock-and-roll-granny Cordell Jackson and
at the Memphis Fall Fest he also shared stage with a young Justin Timberlake who
sung Hank Williams songs wearing a cowboy hat. In the 1990s he seriously started
to write songs and his legendary "Truckers Last Ride" went gold
and Robert was honored with the key to the City of Memphis and the Lifetime Achievement
Award from the Memphis Music Heritage Foundation for his merits. In 1998 he received
the honorary title of "Colonel aide-de-camp" from Don Sundquist the
governor of the state of Tennessee, after which he was inducted in the Rockabilly
Hall of Fame and the Traditional Country Hall of Fame.
(sadly The Colonel passed away due to long term effects of a heart attack he suffered
in 2008) b. December 12th 19542014: Dale
Dorman (71)American Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
radio disc jockey. He broadcast in Boston for close on 40 years, starting on WCHN
AM/FM
- Norwich, NY, doing an afternoon rock show, then
going to WOLF, Syracuse, New York in 1965, KYNO Fresno, CA, 1965-66, KFRC, San
Francisco 1966-68, WRKO from 196878, and later on WXKS-FM 1978-2003. He
joined WODS during the summer of 2003. Also in the 1970s and 1980s, he was an
on-air announcer for television on WLVI-TV, Boston for children's programming
as "Uncle Dale" and was inducted into the Massachusetts Broadcasting
Hall of Fame in 2010(sadly
died after a long illness) b. September 2nd 1943. 2014:
Tyson Stevens (29) American singer-songwriter
and bassist born in Gilbert, Arizona, he is best known as a founder member and
lead singer in the post hardcore band Scary Kids Scaring Kids formed in 2002.
They released two albums 2005s The City Sleeps in Flames and a self-titled
album in 2007. The band played two Australian tours in 2008  first with
the Soundwave festival and then returning for a headline tour later  but
announced their split the following year. A farewell tour in 2010 dubbed Final
Nightmare saw the band in Australia again performing in Perth,
Melbourne, Newcastle,
Wollongong, Brisbane, Sydney, Adelaide, Hobart and
on the Gold Coast. After the band brake up, Tyson formed a new band, Coma Prevail,
they recorded a three song demo in Los Angeles with guitarist-producer Beau Burchell(tragically Tyson was
found dead in his home by his girlfriend) b. September
29th 1985.

October
22nd.
1935: Komitas Vardapet (66)Armenian priest, composer, choir leader, singer,
music ethnologist, music pedagogue and musicologist. Regarded as the founder of
modern Armenian classical music.In 1899 he acquired the title doctor of musicology
and returned to Echmiadzin, where he took over conducting a polyphonic male choir.
He traveled extensively around the country, listening to and recording details
about Armenian folk songs and dances performed in various villages. This way he
collected and published some 3000 songs, many of them adapted to choir singing.
From 1910 he lived and worked in Istanbul. There he established a 300-member choir
Gusan. He was the first non-European to be admitted into the International Music
Society, of which he was a co-founder. He gave many lectures and performances
throughout Europe, Turkey and Egypt, thus presenting till then very little known
Armenian music. On April 24, 1915, said to be the day when the Armenian Genocide
officially began, he was arrested and put on a train the next day together with
180 other Armenian notables and sent to the city of Çankiri in northern
Central Anatolia, at a distance of some 300 miles. His good friend, Turkish nationalist
poet Mehmet Emin Yurdakul, the authoress Halide Edip, and the U.S. ambassador
Henry Morgenthau intervened with the government and, by special orders from Talat
Pasha, Komitas was dispatched back to the capital alongside eight other Armenians
who had been deported.The
music academy in Yerevan is named him and there
also exists a worldwide renowned string quartet named after Komitas
(Komitas lost his mind after witnessing the 1915 Armenian Genocide, he never really
fully recovered, he died in a psychiatric clinic in Paris, France)b.
September 26th or October 8th 1869.1943: Leon Roppolo (41) American
jazz clarinetist, saxophonist,
guitarist born in Lutcher, Louisiana. He
was a prominent early jazz clarinetist, best known for his playing with the New
Orleans Rhythm Kings. He also made some recordings with Original Memphis Five
and California Ramblers musicians in New York in 1924 as well as working with
other New Orleans bands such as the Halfway House Orchestra, with which he recorded
on saxophone. Leon's compositions include the jazz standards "Farewell Blues"
and "Milenberg Joys", "Gold Leaf Strut" or "Golden Leaf
Strut", "Tin Roof Blues", and "Make Love to Me" (Leon
died of tertiary syphilis)b. March
16th 1902. 1958: Jay
Perkins (?)
American bass guitarist; worked with his
brother Carl Perkins (brain
tumour)b.??1969:
Tommy Edwards (47) American
vocalist, pianist, and composer; born in
Richmond, Virginia, his first impact in R&B circles in 1946, was writing "That
Chick's Too Young to Fry", a hit for Louis Jordan. He began recording in
1949, and had his first hit in 1951 with "All Over Again". He is best
remembered for his 1958, Billboard No.1, "It's All in the Game", it
also reach No.1, on the UK singles chart. He sang his hit song on The Ed Sullivan
Show, on 14 September, 1958. This was followed by "Love is All We Need,"
which climbed to No.15. His last chart hit was "My Melancholy Baby"
in 1959 (died after suffering a brain aneurysm in his hometown
of Richmond, Virginia) b. February 17th 1922. 1973: Pablo Casals/Pau Casals i Defilló (96) Spanish
Catalan cellist and later conductor. He made many recordings throughout his career,
of solo, chamber, and orchestral music, also as conductor, but he is perhaps best
remembered for the recording of the Bach Cello Suites he made from 1936 to 1939.
In
1897 he appeared as soloist with the Madrid Symphony Orchestra, and was awarded
the Order of Carlos III from the Queen. In 1899, Casals played at The Crystal
Palace in London, and later for Queen Victoria at Osborne House, her summer residence,
accompanied by Ernest Walker. On November 12 and December 17, 1899, he appeared
as a soloist at Lamoureux Concerts in Paris, to great public and critical acclaim.
He toured Spain and the Netherlands with the pianist Harold Bauer in 1900-1901;
in 1901-1902 he made his first tour of the United States; and in 1903 toured South
America and on January 15th 1904, Pablo was invited to play at the White House
for President Theodore Roosevelt, These are just a few hi-lites from his long
career. Pablo was an ardent supporter of the Spanish Republican government, and
after its defeat in 1939, he vowed not to return to Spain until democracy had
been restored, sadly he did not live to see the end of the Franco dictatorial
regime. He was posthumously honoured by the Spanish government under King Juan
Carlos I which, in 1976, issued a commemorative postage stamp to Pau Casals in
honour of the centenary of his birth and in 1989 he was awarded a Grammy Lifetime
Achievement Award
(Pablo died in San Juan, Puerto Rico)b.
December 29th 1876.1986: Jane Dornacker (39)American actress, keyboardist,
songwriter, traffic reporter; born
in Albuquerque, New Mexico; she
was the lead singer, keyboardist, and songwriter of the 1970s & 1980s San
Francisco pop-rock group Leila And The Snakes. Pearl Gates and Pamela Wood provided
supporting vocals. Their repertoire included "Rock And Roll Weirdos,"
"Pyramid Power" and a spoof version of Peggy Lee's "Is That All
There Is?". Jane
also provided lead vocals on "Christopher Columbus" in 1978, a song
by R. Crumb & His Cheap Suit Serenaders. She co-wrote the humorous hit song
"Don't Touch Me There" for The Tubes. The song was sung by Re Styles
and appeared on The Tubes' second studio album, Jane had also toured with The
Tubes as a backing singer and dancer. Jane developed a successful career as a
stand-up comic on the San Francisco circuit and did her first work as a traffic
reporter in the early to mid 1980s for KFRC, a popular Top 40 radio station. She
moved to New York City to become the raspy voiced "trafficologist" and
"Jane-in-a-plane". (tragically
died in a helicopter crash during a live traffic report for WNBC radio in New
York. Listeners heard her terrified voice screaming "Hit the water, hit the
water" as the helicopter from which she and pilot Bill Pate were reporting,
fell from the sky and crashed into the Hudson River. Jane is notable for surviving
one helicopter crash only to sadly die in a second helicopter crash in the same
year) b. October 1st
1947. 1989: Ewan MacColl/James 'Jimmie' Miller (74)British
folk singer, songwriter, actor, playwright,
poet, record producer and the father
of the late Kirsty MacColl. Born in Broughton, as well as his acting career,
Ewan also began to collect and perform traditional ballads. His long involvement
with Topic Records started in 1950 with his release of a single, "The Asphalter's
Song". When, in 1953 Theatre Workshop decided relocate to London, Ewan,
who had opposed that move, left the company and changed the focus of his career
from acting and playwriting to singing and composing folk and topical songs.
Over
the years he recorded and produced upwards of a hundred albums, many with English
folk song collector and singer A.L. Lloyd. The pair released an ambitious series
of eight LP albums of more or less the complete Child Ballads. He also produced
a number of LPs with Irish singer songwriter Dominic Behan, brother of the playwright,
Brendan Behan. In 2001, "The Essential Ewan MacColl Songbook" was published,
with the words and music to 200 of his songs(?)b.
January 25th
1915.1994:
James "Jimmy"
Miller (52)American
record producer and musician, born in Brooklyn, New York City;who produced dozens
of albums between the mid-1960s and early 1990s, including landmark recordings
for the Spencer Davis Group, Blind Faith, Spooky Tooth, Traffic, Motörhead,
the Plasmatics, and Primal Scream. He was best known for his lengthy association
with The Rolling Stones, for whom he produced a string of singles and albums that
all rank among the most critically and financially successful
works of the band's career: Beggars Banquet-1968, Let It Bleed-1969, Sticky Fingers-1971,
Exile on Main St.-1972 and Goats Head Soup-1973. (sadly
died of liver failure) b. March 23rd 1942.2005: Franky Gee/Francisco Alejandro Gutierrez (42)American singer
born in Havana, before his family emigrated to Miami. After college, he enlisted
in the US Army, while stationed in Germany, he started deejaying. After which
he stayed in Germany and became the frontman for the German Europop group Captain
Jack. His clothing and mannerisms in Captain Jack were intended to satirize the
American military. Captain
Jack's music was widely featured on the popular Konami Arcade game, Dance Dance
Revolution, and others in that series (suffered a cerebral
hemorrhage while walking with his son in Palma, Mallorca. He went into a coma
and subsequently died five days later)b. February
19th 1962.2009: Don Lane/Morton
Donald Isaacson (75)American-born
Australian entertainer, talk show host and singer. He began his working life as
a nightclub performer and singer, appearing at many clubs in Hawaii, L.A. and
New York. He appeared on one episode of the Ed Sullivan program in the late 1950s
as one half of a double act. He was drafted into the U.S. army in the early 50s
and was commissioned as an officer serving in the artillery. He later toured for
two years entertaining the troops.
He worked alongside Johnny Carson, Sammy Davis, Jr., Wayne Newton and others.
He also played Professor Harold Hill in the Las Vegas production of The Music
Man. Don relocated to Australia where
he
became a multi-award winner including 1966: Most Popular Male and Most Popular
Live Show (Tonight with Don Lane); 1967: Most Popular Male and Most Popular Live
Show (Tonight with Don Lane); 1968: Best Male Personality and Best Show (Tonight
with Don Lane); 1969: Best Male Personality and Best Show (Tonight with Don Lane);
1970: Best Male Personality and Best Local Show (Tonight Show with Don Lane);
1974: Most Popular Male and Most Popular Show (The Don Lane Show); and he recieved
4 National Logie awards:Gold
Logie; Most Popular Male Personality; Victoria: Most Popular Male; and Most Popular
Show (sadly
died from dementia caused by Alzheimer's disease)b.
November 13th 1933.2012:
Gabrielle Roth (71) American singer,
author, dancer, philosopher and dramatist. She devoted her life to dance, singing,
poetry and theatre. Her on going research and communication of these issues led
to the development of the five rhythms aka 5Rhythms, a movement of meditation
and free dance, in which a dancer moves through five different rhythms, which
together form a wave of movement or a 'wave' forms. She was artistic director
of her dance / theater / music group the 'Mirrors' and had her own recording studio
Raven Recording, founded with her husband, Robert Ansell. Gabrielle released 20
albums and 3 DVDs and she has written three books, two of which have been translated
into Dutch (sadly died while fighting lung cancer)
b. February 4th 1941.2013:
Viv Bozack Ngomane (36)South African radio DJ with Radio Algoa
FM and Port Elizabeth icon (tragically died so young of
a stroke) b. 19772014: Paul Nabor (86) Belizean
singer and guitarist, born in Punta Gorda, British Honduras; he is often credited
with popularizing paranda, a style of traditional Garifuna music, and is considered
to have been one of the most talented musicians of the genre. In Belize, his best
known song was "Naguya Nei," which he wrote in memory of his deceased
sister. Fluent in English, Spanish and Garifuna, Nabor was a popular entertainer
throughout Central America. He performed on Andy Palacio's final album, Wátina,
released in 2007. Paul's music is also included on the showcase album Paranda
on Stonetree Records. He retired from performing full-time in 2009, but played
occasionally until 2013(sadly Paul
died following a stroke he had the week before)
b. January 26th 1928.2015:
Labh Janjua (57)Indian bhangra and hip hop singer and songwriter, born in the city of Khanna,
in the Ludhiana district of Punjabbest. He is known for his bhangra songs, such
as "Bair Bura Hunda Jatt da", "Jatt Di Nazar Buri", "Goli
Jatt Ne Katcheri'ch Chaloni ", "Jatt Marda", "Soni De Nakhre
Sone lagde" and "Mundian To Bach Ke", which was remixed by Panjabi
MC in 1998, and re-released in 2002. He has also sung many Bollywood songs, including
"Jee Karda" from the 2008 film Singh Is Kinng (sadly
died from a suspected heart attack) b. 1958.2016:
Barry Socher (68)American violinist, he played in the Los Angeles Philharmonics'
first violin section for 35 years. He had also been concertmaster for the Los
Angeles Master Chorale Orchestra, Pasadena Pops Orchestra, Fresno Philharmonic
and the Ojai Festival and Oregon Bach Festival orchestras. He founded
the Armadillo String Quartet, taught at Idyllwild School of Music and the Los
Angeles Philharmonic Institute, and served on the faculties of Pomona
College and the University of Southern California(sadly
Barry died while fighting brain cancer)
b.
November 2nd 1947.

October
23rd.1950:
Al Jolson/Asa Yoelson (64) American singer, songwriter, blackfaced
minstrel, comedian, born in Seredius, Lithuania, then a part of the Russian
Empire. His career lasted from 1911 until his death in 1950, during which time
he was commonly dubbed "the world's greatest entertainer. Between 1911
and 1928, Jolson had nine sell-out Winter Garden shows in a row, more than 80
hit records, and 16 national and international tours. Yet by some, he's best remembered
today for his leading role in the first, full length, talking movie ever made,
The Jazz Singer, released in 1927. Hits many hits include: Rock-A-Bye Your Baby
With A Dixie Melody, I've Got My Captain Working for Me Now, Swanee, Avalon, California,
Here I Come and I'm Sitting on Top of the World. Numerous
well-known singers were influenced by his music, including Bing Crosby, Judy Garland,
and Bob Dylan, who once referred to him as "somebody whose life I can feel(sadly
he died of a massive heart attack, Broadway lowered it's lights for ten minutes
in Al's honor)b. March 26th 1886.1964: Bill Daniles (?) American drummer with
Buddy and the Kings (all four members of US band Buddy and
the Kings were killed when their hired Cesna Skyhawk piloted by Bill Daniles,
crashed nose first killing all on board. They were on their way to a gig in Harris
County. Singer with the group Harold David Box, had replaced Buddy Holly in The
Crickets after Buddy's death in a plane crash)b.????1964: Harold "David" Box (21)American
singer with Buddy and the Kings and was one of the singers who replaced Buddy
Holly in The Crickets after Holly's death. David can be heard singing lead vocals
on "Peggy Sue Got Married". Born in in Sulphur Springs he was a huge
fan of Buddy Holly and in 1958 he formed the Ravens, a group styled on the Crickets.
They cut some demos at Mitchell Studio in Lubbock. He went to LA with his band,
where he sessioned with the Crickets, after which they returned home to complete
their schooling. In 1964 he finished college and was working with the touring
band Buddy and the Kings which included, himself on lead vocals, Buddy Groves
vocalist and guitar, Carl Banks on bass and Bill Daniels on the drums
(died: as above) b. August 11th 19431964:
Buddy Groves (?) American guitarist with Buddy and the Kings (died:
as above) b.???? 1964:
Carl Banks (?) American bassist with Buddy and the Kings (died:
as above) b.???? 1968:
Naima Wifstrand (78) Swedish film actor, operetta singer, troubadour,
director and composer. She studied music and singing in Stockholm at the Swedish
Royal Academy of Music and in 1910 she went to London and further trained for
Raymond von zur Mühlen. After her studies she was one of the most acknowledged
operetta singers in Scandinavia. She worked at Oscarsteatern, Sweden's foremost
operetta and musical stage, 1913-1918 and for years to come toured Sweden and
Scandinavia. Her big break-through came as Countess Stasi in Emmerich Kálmán's
operetta Die Csárdásfürstin in 1916. She worked in the 1920s
mainly at the opera houses in Oslo and Copenhagen. For many years she lived in
London where she also performed with troubadour-songs alone along with her guitar.
A curiosity here is that when the first attempts at broadcasted television took
place in Britain Wifstrand actually became one of the first "TV-stars",
so to speak, as she appeared on TV already in the 1930s and performed a number
of songs. She had a big acting career and was internationally most notable for
strong supporting parts in her later years in a number of Ingmar Bergman-films
(?) b. September 4th 18901978: Maybelle Carter (69) American country
musician, best known as a member of the historic Carter Family act in the 1920s
and 1930s and as a member of Mother Maybelle and the Carter Sisters. She was a
member of the original Carter Family, formed in 1927 by her brother-in-law, A.
P. Carter, who was married to her cousin, Sara, also a part of the trio. It was
perhaps the first commercial rural Country music group. Maybelle was the guitarist
and also played autoharp and banjo; she created a unique sound for the group with
her innovative 'scratch' style of guitar playing, also called Carter Family picking,
where she used her thumb to play melody on the bass and middle strings, and her
index finger to fill out the rhythm. Maybelle was inducted as part of The Carter
Family in the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1970. In 1993, her image appeared
on a U.S. postage stamp honoring the Carter Family. In 2001 she was initiated
into the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Honor, and ranked No.8 in CMT's
40 Greatest Women of Country Music in 2002. In 2005, she was portrayed by Sandra
Ellis Lafferty in the Johnny Cash biopic Walk the Line (?)May 10th 19091984:
James Petrillo (92) American musicians union leader, born in Chicago,
Illinois. Though in his youth he played the trumpet, he finally made a career
out of organizing musicians into the union starting in 1919. He became president
of the Chicago Local 10 of the musician's union in 1922, and was president of
the American Federation of Musicians from 1940 to 1958. He continued being the
prime force in the Union for another decade; in the 1960s he was head of the Union's
"Civil Rights Division", which saw to the desegregation of the local
unions and the venues where musicians played (?)
b. March 16th 1892. 1999: Bobby Willis (57)British songwriter and manager; his first known recorded composition, Shy
of Love was featured on the B-side of Love of the Loved, the debut release of
Cilla Black in September 1963. During the sixties he was to write many songs for
his then girlfriend, Cilla, to record and perform. Is It Love? - was featured
in the beat film Ferry Cross The Mersey in 1965. He often collaborated with Kenny
Lynch and George Martin. After the death of Brian Epstein, Bobby undertook management
duties and represented Cilla for over thirty years. Bobby married Cilla Black
on 25 January 1969 (sadly lost his struggle with cancer)
b. January 25th 1942. 2003:
Tony Capstick (59) English comedian, singer, actor, author and
broadcaster, born in Rotherham, Yorkshire; he was a regular performer on folk
circuits recording many albums including 'His Round', 'Punch and Judy Man', 'Tony
Capstick Does a Turn', 'Songs of Ewan MacColl', and 'There Was This Bloke'. In
1981, he along with The Sheffield Grinder, reached No.3 in the UK singles chart
with "Capstick Comes Home". He had a TV series, Capstick's Capers, on
Channel 4 in 1983, as well as portraying one of the policemen in the long-running
British sitcom Last of the Summer Wine where he played the role until his death.
Tony had also been a presenter on BBC Radio Sheffield for over 30 years and wrote
a regular column in the Rotherham Advertiser (sadly Tony
died from a heart attack)b. July 27th 1944.2002: Adolph
Green (87) American lyricist and playwright who, with long-time collaborator
Betty Comden, penned the screenplays and songs for some of the most beloved movie
musicals, particularly as part of Arthur Freed's production unit at MGM, during
the genre's heyday. They shared a unique comic genius and sophisticated wit that
enabled them to forge a six-decade-long partnership that produced some of Hollywood
and Broadway's greatest hits. Their first Broadway effort was On the Town, a musical
romp about three sailors on leave in New York City. At MGM they wrote the screenplay
for Good News, The Barkleys of Broadway for Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire, and
then adapted On the Town for Frank Sinatra and Gene Kelly, and the classic Singin'
in the Rain. Among their other credits are the Mary Martin version of Peter Pan
for both Broadway and television, a streamlined Die Fledermaus for the Metropolitan
Opera, and stage musicals for Carol Burnett, Leslie Uggams, and Lauren Bacall,
among others. Their many collaborators included Garson Kanin, Cy Coleman, Jule
Styne, and André Previn. These are just a few of which they wrote for the
screen, stage and television. In 1958, they appeared on Broadway in A Party with
Betty Comden and Adolph Green, a revue that included some of their early sketches.
It was a critical and commercial success, and they brought an updated version
back to Broadway in 1977. They received the Kennedy Center Honors in 1991 and
were nominees for 12 Tony Awards and winners of seven (he
died at his home in Manhattan)b. December 2nd 1914.2004: Robert Merrill (87) American operatic
baritone; In his early radio appearances as a crooner he was sometimes billed
as Merrill Miller. While singing at bar mitzvahs and weddings and Borscht Belt
resorts, he met an agent, Moe Gale, who found him work at Radio City Music Hall
and with the NBC Symphony Orchestra. With Toscanini conducting, he eventually
sang in two of the famous maestro's NBC broadcasts of famous operas, La traviata
with Licia Albanese, in 1946, and Un ballo in maschera with Herva Nelli, in 1954.
Both of those broadcasts were eventually released on both LP and CD. His 1944
operatic debut was in Verdi's Aida at Newark, New Jersey, with the famous tenor
Giovanni Martinelli, then in the later stages of his long operatic career. Relatively
late in his singing career, he became known for singing "The Star-Spangled
Banner" at Yankee Stadium. He first sang the national anthem to open the
1969 baseball season, and it became a tradition for the Yankees to bring him back
each year on Opening Day and special occasions. In honor of Robert's vast influence
on US vocal music, on Feb 16th 1981 he was awarded the prestigious University
of Pennsylvania Glee Club Award of Merit; the National Medal of Arts in 1993 and
in 1996 he was presented with The Lawrence Tibbett Award from the AGMA Relief
Fund, honoring his fifty years of professional achievement and dedication to colleagues(died at home in New Rochelle, New York, while watching
Game 1 of the 2004 World Series between the Boston Red Sox and the St. Louis Cardinals)b. June 4th 1917.2009: Sohrab Fakir Khaskhely (75)Pakistani folk singer, playing the yaktaro, a single stringed instrument
and chappar, wooden clappers. He started singing with his uncles at eight years
old and went to Khan Sahab Khety Khan in Rohri for more musical education. He
sung his first song, Kadhy Kadam Kaya Khan Bahar Ker, at shrine of Kush Khair
Muhammad. and started his career on Radio Pakistan, Khairpur with the famous song
Raag . Sohrab went on to become the greatest Sindhi folk singer in his style of
music. Sadly, a paralytic stroke had recently left Saaiin Sohrab voiceless. He
spent some of his final days at a Sufi shrine in Sindh (sadly
died from kidney disease) b. ??.??.19342011: Henk Pleket (74) Dutch folk singer
and guitarist born in Amsterdam; he got his break in 1977 playng guitar and singing
with the Port Singers. Henk and the group recorded nine gold and seven platinum
records. In April 2003 he was honoured as a Knight in the Order of Orange-Nassau.
When the Port Singers disbanded in August 2007, Henk decided to continue under
the name "Port Henk Pleket Singer"(sadly
died fighting cancer)b.
May 16th 1937.2011:
Gene Kurtz (69)American bassist and songwriter
born in San Antonio and lived in Austin. He played with a number of San
Antonio bands, including Denny Ezba &
the Goldens with future Sir Douglas Quintet/Texas Tornados organist Augie Meyers,
before hooking up with Roy Head and the Traits in the mid-'60s. Gene co-wrote
"Treat Her Right" reached No.2 on both the Billboard pop and R&B
charts in 1965. Since then, it has been covered by a long list of artists including
Otis Redding, Barbara Mandrell, George Thorogood, Johnny Thunders, Robert Plant,
Bruce Springsteen, and Bob Dylan. He worked on Edgar Winters seminal
Entrance album, and went on to work with a wide
range artists from Bo Diddley to Charlie Pride to Nana Mouskouri, and make
numerous television and radio appearances in New York, London, Montreal, Los Angeles,
Memphis, Nashville, Houston, Las Vegas, and Austin. In his later years, he reunited
with Head for the 2008 Austin Music Awards, switching to rhythm guitar and was
a longtime member of Dale Watson & His Lonestars. He wrote "Way Down
Texas Way" and appeared with Watson and his band performing the song in an
episode of NBC's Friday Night Lights (sadly died fighting
cancer) ?? b. October 9th 1942 ??.2012: Michael Marra (60) Scottish musician
and songwriter, born in Dundee. Although he was well known as a songwriter, he
worked extensively in theatre, radio and television. He formed his first band
Hens Teeth in 1971, and later became a solo artist releasing of his first
album the Midas Touch in 1980. As
a solo performer he toured the length and breadth of Britain, performing in arts
centres, theatres, folk clubs and village halls. He opened for such diverse performers
as Van Morrison, The Proclaimers, Loudon Wainwright III, Barbara Dickson and Deacon
Blue. He composed his own operetta "If The Moon Can Be Believed", performed
in a 2007 production of the Demon Barber and wrote the play St Catherines
Day. He was awarded the Herald Angel Award in 2010 for his performance at The
Acoustic Music Centre during the Edinburgh Fringe Festival (sadly
Michael died fighting throat cancer) b. February
19522013: Gypie Mayo/John Phillip Cawthra
(62)English rock guitarist
and songwriter, born in Hammersmith, London; as a boy he was hugely influenced
by the UK instumental band The Shadows. In 1969, he left his day job to join a
blues band called White Mule. The band stayed together for about a year and played
all over the UK, along with gigs in Switzerland and France. After White Mule,
he played in various line-ups during the early to mid-70s including Halcyon, 747,
Alias and was part of an Irish traditional band called Concrete Mick where he
played the mandolin. Early 1977 he replaced Wilko Johnson in Dr. Feelgood; he
played with them for four years and on six albums: Be Seeing You, Private Practice,
As It Happens, Let It Roll, A Case of the Shakes and On The Job. He also co-wrote
the Feelgood's only UK Top 10 single "Milk and Alcohol" with Nick Lowe.
His guitar work was featured on the Yardbirds' 2003 album, Birdland and made guest
appearances on albums such as Pete Gage's Tough Talk(?)
b. July 24th 1951. 2014:
Alvin Stardust/Shane Fenton/Bernard William Jewry(72)English
singer and actor born in the East End of London, but as a young boy moved with
his parents to Mansfield. He started playing guitar as a schoolboy and met one
of his biggest influences, Buddy Holly, at a gig in Doncaster and played backstage
with the singer and his band the Crickets. He started out on his musical journey
as a roadie for a local band, Johnny Theakstone and the Tremeloes; the band sent
an audition tape to the BBC's Saturday Club show, under the pseudonym of Shane
Fenton and the Fentones, but tragically their young lead singer, Johnny, died
of rheumatic fever. >>>READ
MORE<<<(sadly
Alvin had recently been diagnosed with metastatic prostate cancer)b. September 27th 1942.2016:
Peter Burns (57)English singer-songwriter and
television personality, born Peter Jozzeppi Burns was born in Bebington, to a
Liverpudlian father and German mother who was a survivor of the Holocaust. Pete
dropped out of his Liverpool boys school at the age of 14 after he was summoned
to the headmasters office with no eyebrows, Harmony-red hair and one
gigantic earring. As a teenager he worked at a Liverpool record shop, Probe
Records, which became a meeting place for local musicians. Pete first performed
as a member of the short-lived Mystery Girls, and then Nightmares in Wax, a proto-Goth
group that formed in Liverpool in 1979.>>>READ
MORE<<<
(sadly Pete died from a sudden cardiac arrest) b. August 5th 1959October
24th.1957: Walter Rehberg (57) Swiss
concert pianist, composer and writer on musical subjects who was particularly
active from the 1920s to 1950s. Born in Geneva
he studied under his father at Hoch Conservatory, Frankfurt, and at the University
School of Music at Mannheim. He later received tuition from Eugen d'Albert. By
1924 he had composed piano sonatas, a violin sonata and other piano pieces. During
the 1930s he made recordings for Polydor/Brunswick records (?)b.
May 14th 1900.
1974: David Oistrakh
(66)Ukrainian-Soviet
violin master-virtuoso who made many recordings and was the dedicatee of numerous
violin works. His
recordings and performances of Shostakovich's concerti are particularly noted,
he was also a performer of classical concerti. He worked with orchestras in Russia,
and also with musicians in Europe and America. The violin concerto of Aram Khachaturian
is dedicated to him, as are the two violin concerti by Dmitri Shostakovich.
The
most heroic act in his life was his performance of Tchaikovsky's violin concerto
to the end in the downtown music hall during the Battle of Stalingrad in the winter
of 1942 while downtown Stalingrad was being massively bombed by the German Luftwaffe(After
conducting a cycle of Brahms with the Concertgebouw Orchestra
in Amsterdam,
he died of a heart attack) b. September 30th 1908.1986: Johnny Dyani (40)
South African jazz double bassist and pianist born in Duncan Village, a township
of the South African city of East London. In the early 1960s he was a member of
South Africa's first integrated jazz band The Blue Notes, but they fled South
Africa in 1964 to seek musical and political freedom. In 1966, Johnny toured Argentina
with Steve Lacy's quartet and recorded "The Forest and the Zoo". He
later moved to Denmark and Sweden, recording many albums under his own name, often
on the SteepleChase label. He recorded with Dollar Brand , Don Cherry, Steve Lacy,
David Murray, Joseph Jarman, Clifford Jarvis, Don Moye, Han Bennink, Brotherhood
of Breath, Mal Waldron, Pierre Dørge and many others ()b. November 30th
1945.1989: Sahib
Shihab/Edmond Gregory (64)American
jazz saxophonist;first
played alto sax professionally for Luther Henderson at age 13, before studying
at the Boston Conservatory and playing with trumpetist Roy Eldridge. In the mid
forties he played lead alto with Fletcher Henderson. During the late 1940s, he
played with Thelonious Monk and also found time to appear on many recordings by
artists including Art Blakey, Miles Davis, Kenny Dorham, Benny Golson, Tadd Dameron
and on John Coltranes first full session as leader for Prestige, First Trane.
In the early 50's he played with Dizzy Gillespie's big band and switched to baritone.
In 1959, he toured Europe with Quincy Jones, after getting fed up with racial
politics in USA, he relocated to Scandinavia, where he worked for Copenhagen Polytechnic,
and wrote scores for television, cinema and theatre. In
1961, he joined The Kenny Clarke-Francy Boland Big Band remaining a key figure
for 12 years. In the 1966 Eurovision Song Contest, he accompanied Lill Lindfors
and Svante Thuresson for the Swedish entry Nygammal Vals. In 1973, he returned
to the United States working as a session man for rock and pop artists and also
doing some copywriting for local musicians. He spent his remaining years between
New York and Europe and played in a successful partnership with Art Farmer (?) b. June 23rd 1925.2001: Kim Gardner(53) English rock bassist born in Dulwich,
London; in 1964 Kim and friend Ron Wood together with Tony Munroe, Ali McKenzie
and Pete McDaniels formed The Thunderbirds. Changing their name to The Birds they
released several singles, including No Good Without You Baby and "Leaving
Here". After which Kim and Ron joined the Mod band The Creation. In 1968
Kim joined up with Tony Ashton and Roy Dyke to form Ashton, Gardner & Dyke,
a jazz- rock band and had the hit single "Resurrection Shuffle". He
was also a member of Quiet Melon with Rod Stewart. Kim relocated LA
in 1974 and spent the rest of the 1970s as both a touring musician and session
musician. During this time he played on twenty-seven albums for such artists as
Jackie Lomax, George Harrison, Bo Diddley and Eric Clapton and toured with bands
including Pacific Gas & Electric. In 1982 he opened a pub in Hollywood, The
Cat and Fiddle where he also desplayed his art work. In the mid 1980s he was a
member of Ian Wallace's Tea Bags group Kims last recording was a collaboration
with Mitch Mitchell of the Jimi Hendrix Experience with guests including Bruce
Gary, Mick Taylor, Carmine
Appice, Jackie Lomax, Brian Auger and
Ivan Neville (died after a fight with cancer)b.January 27th
1948.2005: Joy Clements/Joyce
Marie Albrecht (73) American lyric coloratura soprano who had
a substantial opera and concert career from 1956 through the late 1970s. She notably
sang regularly with both the New York City Opera and the Metropolitan Opera during
the 1960s through the early 1970s. She also traveled regularly for performances
with opera companies and orchestras throughout America but only appeared in a
relatively few number of performances internationally. A highlight of her career
was the July 28th 1965, Concert Version of Aaron Copland's The Tender Land, as
part of the French-American Festival, with the New York Philharmonic. Clements
sang the leading role of Laurie Moss, with Turner, Richard Cassilly, Treigle and
Richard Fredricks also in the cast(sadly
Joy died from complications from multiple sclerosis)
b. April
29th 1932.2008: Premasiri Khemadasa (71)Sri Lankan musician and composer; a Maestro with a mission known as
"Khemadasa Master" is one of the most influential composers in Sri Lankan
music. Exploring the various styles of music around the world he endeavored to
develop a unique style of music. He combined Sinhala folk tunes, Hindustani music,
Western music and many other streams of music in his compositions while adapting
them to fit contemporary music. Scores written by the master for films include
Paradige, Hansawilak,Thunweniyamaya, Yasa Isuru widened
his acclaim in the field of cinema. He has also composed music for films produced
outside Sri Lanka such as Thousand Flowers (died while receiving
treatments at a private hospital)
b. January 25th 19372008: Merl Saunders (74)American
multi-genre pianist and keyboards born in San Mateo, California, favored the Hammond
B-3 console organ. He came to notice in the 1970s when he began collaborating
with Jerry Garcia, with whom he had begun playing in 1971 at a small Fillmore
Street nightclub called the Matrix. Merl went on to lead his own bands, as Merl
Saunders and Friends, playing live dates with Garcia, Mike Bloomfield, David Grisman,
Tom Fogerty, Vassar Clements, Kenneth Nash, John Kahn and Sheila E. He has worked
with musicians Paul Pena, Bonnie Raitt, Phish, Miles Davis, and B.B. King, and
also recorded with The Dinosaurs, a "supergroup" of first-generation
Bay Area rock musicians (tragically died due to complications
from a broken hip)b. February 14th 1934.2008: Moshe Cotel (65) American pianist and
composer born in in Baltimore, whose music was strongly influenced by his Jewish
roots. He enrolled in the Talmudic Academy of Baltimore
and the Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University where he studied
music and took college-preparatory classes, having enrolled at the age of 9. He
wrote a 200-page symphony as a 13-year-old, to the astonishment of his piano teacher
at Peabody who did not believe him until he pulled the completed score out of
his bag. He
earned bachelor's and master's degrees at the Juilliard School in New York City,
in 1964 and 1965 respectively and he won the American Academy Rome Prize for music
composition at age 23, and studied art in Italy for two years. Performing or conducting
his own works or those of others around the world, Moshel was known for a career
that arched from early Romantic compositions to atonal, unpredictable avante gardist
scores and then to a reversion to Romanticism (died
peacefully from natural causes) b.
February 20th 1943.2010: Keti Chomata (64)Greek
singer, she studied classical dance and enjoyed singing from a young age. Giannis
Spanos discovered her talent when he came from France looking for the voice of
the new wave of Greek.
She recorded about 200 songs and released about 18 records, one of her biggest
hits was "A Summer Love". Keti also sang for the Greeks abroad and achieved
success in Canada, the USA and Germany(sadly
died of cancer)
b. October 24th
1946.2010: Linda Hargrove (61) American country
singer-songwriter and musician born in Tallahassee. In the mid-'70s, she was one
of the first Nashville artists to blend country sounds with a modern pop/rock
sheen; by the time that such a hybrid came to dominate the charts a decade later,
Linda was largely out of the music industry. In 1975, she moved to Capitol Records,
for whom she released her only Top 40 hit, "Love Was (Once Around the Dance
Floor)," from the LP ''Love, You're the Teacher''. In the same year, Johnny
Rodriguez took her composition "Just Get Up and Close the Door" to the
top of the charts. Sandy Posey, Leon Russell are just a couple of other musicians
who have covered her songs. Linda released two more country albums, 1976's ''Just
Like You'' and 1977's ''Impressions'' (Sadly passed away
from complications of a bone marrow transplant) b.
February 3rd 1949.2012: Bill Dees (73)American musician and songwriter born in the town of Borger in the
Texas Panhandle, he played
guitar and sang with a band called "The Five Bops" gaining enough recognition
to perform on an Amarillo, radio station. He eventually made his way to Nashville,
where his meeting Roy Orbison led to a collaboration that produced a string of
successful songs including the hits "Oh, Pretty Woman" and "It's
Over". In
1967, Bill co-wrote all the songs for the Roy Orbison album and MGM motion picture
The Fastest Guitar Alive. Beyond his work with Roy, he wrote 100's of songs, a
number of which were recorded by performers such as Johnny Cash, Loretta Lynn,
Skeeter Davis, Glen Campbell, Billy Joe Royal, Frank Ifield, Mark Dinning and
Gene Pitney. In 2000, he recorded his own album titled Saturday Night At The Movies,
a compilation of songs previously sung by Roy Orbison that had been written with
Bill and some that Bill had written alone(so
sadly died of a brain tumor)b. January 24th 19392013:
Manolo
Escobar/Manuel García Escobar (82)Spanish singer of Andalusian copla and of Spanish song.
He was also an actor and performed in multiple musicals. Among his successes are
"El porompompero" (1962), "Mi carro" (1969), "La minifalda"
and "Y viva España". He appeared in more than twenty films and
recorded almost eighty albums, twenty-four of which are gold records and he also
won a platinum cassette. His best-selling album was Y viva España, which
sold 6 million and 10 million in subsequent official reprints copies, making it
the best-selling album in Spain from 1973 to 1992 (sadly
Manolo died while fighting cancer) b. October
19th 1931. 2013:
Manna Dey/Prabodh Chandra Dey (94)Indian
playback singer.
He debuted in the film Tamanna in 1942 and went on to record more than 4000 songs
from 1942 to 2013. The Government of India honoured him with the Padma Shri in
1971, the Padma Bhushan in 2005 and the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 2007. He sang
mainly in Hindi and Bengali; he also recorded songs in several other Indian languages.
His peak period in Hindi playback singing was from 1953-1976. He sang with singers
of every generation in Indian films from 1940-2005 and worked with more than 102
music directors in Hindi film industry from working with Krishna Chandra Dey in
Tamanna in 1942 to music composer Shamir Tandon in 2006. (Manna
was admitted to the ICU in a Bengaluru hospital after a chest infection gave rise
to other complications. He didn't truly recover and has sadly died of a cardiac
arrest) b. May 1st 1919.2014:
Eunice Betances (58) Dominican merengue singer born in Santo Domingo.
In 1985 she became part of the all-female group Las Chicas del Can, founded in
1982. They took the meringue to countries like USA, Netherlands, Spain,
Germany , Belgium , Switzerland ,
France, Italy, Japan and several countries in South America. They performed hit
after hit throughout the eighties, and a great number of their singles and albums
achieved gold and/or platinum status. Hits such as "El Negro No Puede,"
"La Media María," "Sukaína," "Juana la
Cubana," "Culeca," "Ta' Pillao," "Fuego," "Fiebre,"
and "Las Pequeñas Cosas" are now regarded merengue classics.
In 1992 she joined former
Las Chicas del Can
singer Miriam Cruz in her new group, Miriam
Cruz and Girls,
she toured and recorded with the group until her death. Honoured with 3 awards,
they recorded 4 albums with hit singles including
"I propose", "La Loba","Take your", "Salt Water",
"Thing of it is" and more (sadly Eunice died battling
breast cancer) b. September 13th 1956.2016:
Eugeniusz Rudnik (83) Polish composer, sound
engineer and pioneer of electro-acoustic and ambient music, born in Nadkole. He
began working for the Polish Radio in Warsaw in 1955, and from 1958 he collaborated
with the Experimental Studio of the Polish Radio. Between 1967-68 he was employed
at the Westdeutscher Rundfunk Studio for Electronic Music in Cologne. Eugeniusz
taught at the Music Academy of Warsaw, where he conducted classes in electroacoustic
music technology, and between the years 1994-95, he lectured at Warsaws
Centre for Journalism. He was one of the first producers of electroacoustic music
in Poland, and the co-creator of the so-called Polish school of electroacoustic
music. He collaborated with numerous top Polish artists on music installations
and film soundtrack productions. Some of the musicians Rudnik worked for are:
Krzysztof Penderecki, Andrzej Markowski, Wlodzimierz Kotonski, Boguslaw Schaeffer,
Stanislaw Radwan, Andrzej Dobrowolski, Arne Nordheim. (?)b. March 28th 1933 2016:
Bobby Vee/Robert Thomas Velline (73)American
pop singer, teen idol and actor born in Fargo, North Dakota. He had thirty-eight
Hot 100 chart hits, ten of which reached the Top 20 and six gold singles in his
career. His career began in the midst of the Buddy Holly plane crash tragedy,
when a 15 years old Bobby and a hastily assembled band of Fargo schoolboys calling
themselves the Shadows were given the unenviable job of filling in for Holly and
his band at the Moorhead engagement. In 1963, he released a tribute album called
'I Remember Buddy Holly', in the liner notes, Bobby recalled Holly's influence
on him and the events surrounding Holly's death. Early in Bobby's career, a musician
calling himself Elston Gunnn>>> READ
MORE <<<(sadly
Bobby died from advanced Alzheimer's disease) b.
April
30th 1943.October 25th.
1952:
Hattie McDaniel (57)American
singer, actress born in ; Hattie was the first African-American to win an Academy
Award. She won the award for Best Supporting Actress for her role of Mammy in
Gone with the Wind in 1939, but she had a big singing career too, touring with
the Showboat company and others.
She
was in fact the first black woman to sing on the radio in America. Over the course
of her career, she appeared in over 300 films, although she received screen credits
for only about 80. She gained the respect of the African American show business
community with her generosity, elegance, and charm. Hattie has two stars on the
Hollywood Walk of Fame in Hollywood: one for her contributions to radio at 6933
Hollywood Boulevard, and one for motion pictures at 1719 Vine Street. In 1975,
she was inducted into the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame and in 2006 became the
first black Oscar winner honored with a US postage stamp (sadly
lost to cancer)b. June 10th 1895.
1980: Sahir Ludhianvi/Abdul Hayee (59) Indian
poet, songwriter, a popular Urdu poet and Hindi lyricist, who worked extensively
in Hindi films. Born in Ludhiana, Punjab he made his debut in films writing lyrics
for the film Azadi Ki Raah Par in 1949, the film had four songs written by him.
He won the Filmfare Award twice, in 1964 and 1977, and in 1971 was awarded the
Padma Shri. The President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee released a Commemorative
Postage Stamp on his birth anniversary on March 8th 2013 at Rashtrapati Bhavan
and his biography, Sahir Ludhianvi: The People's Poet, has been published by HarperCollins(sadly
died from a massive heart attack)b.
March 8th 1921.
1980: Virgil Fox (68)American
organist born
Princeton, Illinois; known especially for his flamboyant "Heavy Organ"
concerts of the music of Bach
and were staged complete with light shows.
These groundbreaking events appealed to audiences in the 70s who were more familiar
with rock 'n' roll music. His many recordings made on the RCA Victor and Capitol
labels. His last commercially released recording
was made at his farewell Riverside Church concert on May 6, 1979. Virgil's 50th
year of performing began when he appeared with the Dallas Symphony in September
1980, in what sadly was to be his final public performance, one month later, he
sadly
died (he
died
in Palm Beach of prostate cancer, for which he had undergone unsuccessful surgery
in 1976) b. May
3rd 1912.1985: Gary
Holton (33)British actor and singer,
born in London; he began working in the theatre world with the Sadlers Wells Opera
Company for three years. After leaving Westminster School, he joined the Old Vic
Theatre Company, after which he joined the Royal Shakespeare Company at Stratford.
At 17 he joined the touring company of Hair, for two years, he left the Company
to help form and front the rock band Heavy Metal Kids in 1972. Dave Dee, signed
them to Atlantic Records, where they recorded their first, self-titled album in
January 1974 followed by Anvil Chorus,
then Kitsch in 1977. Their single "She's No Angel" was regularly played
on BBC Radio 1, a favourite of legendary DJ John Peel. The band toured America
when they changed their name to The Kids and were also very popular in Norway.
Also Gary stood in for The Damned vocalist Dave Vanian on a short Scottish tour,
he also recorded a solo single, which became a No.1 hit in Norway, a stunning
punk-country version of Kenny Rogers's "Ruby, Don't Take Your Love to Town".
He and Casino Steel recorded three albums together, which all did well in Norway.
Gary returned to acting with many minor parts on TV, but got his big break with
the character Wayne in the production Auf Wiedersehen, Pet (sadly
Gary died from an overdose of alcohol and morphine, with traces of diazepam and
cannabis in his system) b. September 22nd
1952. 1990: Isaac
"Ikey" Robinson (86)
American banjoist and singer,
born
in Dublin, Virginia, he moved to Chicago in 1926, playing and recording with Jelly
Roll Morton, Clarence Williams and Jabbo Smith during 1928-29. After which his
own groups included Ikey Robinson and his Band, The Hokum Trio, The Pods of Pepper,
Windy City Five, and Sloke & Ike. His 1929 recording "Rock MeMama"
is often cited as an early use of the term "rock" as it evolved from
black gospel into rock n roll. He reunited in the 70s with Jabbo Smith for a successful
global tour, and in 1986 Ikey appeared in Terry Zwigoff's documentary "Louie
Bluie" about musician Howard Armstrong(?)
b. July
28th 1904.1991: Bill Graham/Wolodia Grajonca (60)American rock concert promoter,
who flourished from the 1960s until his death. Born in Berlin, a Holocaust survivor
and orphaned,
fate eventually
took him to America, where he stayed in a foster home in The Bronx in New York
City. After being taunted as an immigrant and being called a Nazi because of his
German accent, he taught himself a perfect New York accent, graduated from DeWitt
Clinton High School, changed his name, and was drafted into the United States
Army in 1951, serving in the Korean War, where he was awarded both the Bronze
Star and Purple Heart. After which in New York, he worked in as a waiter in clubs,
all
the time learning
about what went on behind the scenes, knowing one day he wanted to promote. He
even became a champion mambo dancer in the mambo clubs of New York City before
he relocated to San Francisco around 1960. He began promoting concerts to raise
funds for the San Francisco Mime Troupe, which he was managering. He left the
troupe in the mid 60's to promote concerts full time. One of the first concerts
Bill promoted was with Chet Helms of the Family Dog organization and featured
the Paul Butterfield Blues Band. Bill went on to produce shows attracting America's
now legendary counterculture of the time such as Country
Joe and The Fish, Janis
Joplin, Jefferson
Airplane, Allen Ginsberg, Lawrence
Ferlinghetti, The Committee, The Fugs, and
one of his favourites The Grateful Dead. He was the manager of Jefferson Airplane
during 1967 and 1968. His successes and popularity allowed him to become the top
concert promoter in rock music. He operated the famous venues the Fillmore West
and Winterland, both in San Francisco and the Fillmore East in New York City,
where the best up-and-coming acts would come to play. In New York City, he formed
a booking agency called The Millard Agency which organized the booking of bands
into various venues across the US. In the mid-1980s, in conjunction with the city
of Mountain View, California, and Apple Inc. cofounder Steve Wozniak, he masterminded
the creation of the Shoreline Amphitheatre, which became the premier venue for
outdoor concerts in the Silicon Valley. Throughout his career, Bill also promoted
benefit concerts. (tragically and sadly Bill died in a helicopter
crash, when it hit a 200ft utility tower in Sonoma County, California)b. January 8th 1931.
1992: Roger Miller
(56) American singer, songwriter, musician
and actor, known for his honky tonk-influenced novelty songs. His most recognized
tunes included the chart-topping country/pop hits "King of the Road",
"Dang Me" and "England Swings", all from the mid-60s Nashville
Sound era. He won an outstanding 11 Grammy Awards, as well as winning Broadway's
Tony award for writing the music and lyrics for Big River, which won a total of
7 Tonys including best musical in 1985. He was voted into the Nashville Songwriters
Hall of Fame in 1973 and the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1995. His 11 Grammy
Awards held the record as the most won by any artist until Michael Jackson's 1982
album Thriller. In Erick, Oklahoma where he grew up, a thoroughfare was renamed
"Roger Miller Boulevard" and a museum dedicated to him was built on
the road in 2004 (cancer) b.
January 2nd 1936.1993: Howie Blauvelt (44) American
bassist; while at school he taught himself to play guitar and formed a band with
class mates calling it The Echoes. As they had 2 guitarists Howie switched to
bass. Soon after he asked his friend Billy Joel to play piano in his band and
they changed the band name to The Lost Souls. They started winning talent competitions,
Mercury Records took an interest recorded a few tracks including "Journey's
End" and "Time And Time Again." but shelved the project, after
renaming them The Commandos and the tracks are somewhere in the Mercury vault.
Howie and Billy left the band to join The Hassles recording a couple of local
albums. Howie and Billy went on to form the band Attila The Hun, they went back
to After The Hassle and then El Primo. Next Howie went to play with Ram Jam, with
a world favourite "Black Betty", his booming bass was really showcased
with this band. Howie played in several bands before joining
the funk-blues band Spitball, in
the early 1990's (sadly he died of a heart attack ..you
will notice Billy Joel often dedicates his hit, "We Didn't Start The Fire"
to his old friend Howie when he performs the song in concert)
b. February 24th 1949.1998:
Warren Wiebe (45)American
vocalist and session artist from San Diego. After playing bass with several bands,
he was discovered by David Foster and Burt Bacharach in Los Angeles in 1987. He
did the duet "Listen to Me" with Celine Dion for the movie of the same
name. It was never officially released. He
was one of several lead vocalists who contributed to the 1991 charity record "Voices
That Care". He is also famous for performing the song "Human Touch",
a ballad which was used as one of the ending theme songs for the 1996 anime After
War Gundam X (?)b.
July 18th 1953.2000:
William Martin (Billy) Bennett (?) American drummer,
he joined Sam The Sham & the Pharaohs in late 1965. His first recording with
the band was "Li'l Red Riding Hood". (sadly died
of a heart attack)b.????2002:
Sir Richard Harris (70) Irish actor, singer,
producer born in Limerick, Munster. As well as his award winning film career,
Richard was also a singer, between 1967 and 1977 he released 11 albums, one of
which, 1968's "A Tramp Shining", included the seven-minute hit song
of him singing "MacArthur Park", written by Jimmy Webb. This single
reached No.2 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart and topped several music sales
charts in Europe during the summer of 1968. "MacArthur Park" sold over
one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc. The album, "The Yard Went
on Forever", published in 1969. Richard wrote and arranged the orchestral
accompaniment for one of the tracks, a scathing commentary on the sectarian violence
in Northern Ireland delivered as a spoken-word poem written by Dr T James and
entitled "There are Too Many Saviours on My Cross" (Sir
Richard sadly died of Hodgkin's disease) b.
October 1st 1930.2003:
Robert Strassburg (88)American conductor,
composer, musicologist and music educator of the twentieth century. His studies
in music were completed under the supervision of such leading composers as Igor
Stravinsky, Walter Piston and Paul Hindemith with whom he studied at Tanglewood.
His formal academic studies were completed at the New England Conservatory of
Music and Harvard University where he obtained a fellowship in composition. He
also completed a doctorate in Fine Arts at the University of Judaism in LA. As
a musicologist he is regarded as a leading authority on the compositions of the
composer Ernest Bloch (?) b.
August
30th 1915. 2004:
John Peel /John Robert Parker Ravenscroft OBE (65)BBC's
longest serving radio DJ, known for his eclectic taste in music and his honest,
warm broadcasting style. He was one of the first to play reggae and punk on British
radio. His significant influence on alternative rock, Pop, British hip hop and
dance music is acknowledged ... Read
More ... (sadly died of a heart attack while on holiday in Peru)b. August 30th
1939.2008: Muslim
Magomayev (66)Azerbaijani
operatic and pop singer, born in Baku; he started as a baritone opera singer earning
fame in Rossini's "Barber of Seville"; his arias from Puccini's "Tosca",
Hajibeyov's "Koroghlu" and "Shah Ismayil". In the mid 60's
he became a pop idol for several generations of music lovers in the USSR. He also
wrote several film soundtracks, acted in films and hosted TV and radio broadcasts
devoted to prominent musicians of the 20th century (died
after a long illness with heart disease)
b. August 17th 1942.2009:
Heinz-Klaus Metzger (77)German music critic
and theorist, he studied piano under Carl Seemann in Freiburg and composition
under Max Deutsch in Paris. In the 60s, he was one of the first European commentators
on John Cage, and spokesman of the movement called compositional Anarchy, which
resulted in the so called Kölner Manifest of 1960, and serving as a copy
editor of the magazine Collage in Palermo. From 1965 until '69 he worked as a
music critic for the Zürcher Weltwoche. In 1969, he founded, together with
his partner, composer and conductor Rainer Riehn, the 'Ensemble Musica Negativa',
where they embraced the performance of radical new music. From 1977 to 2002 Metzger
and Riehn founded, edited, researched, and provided texts criticism for the musicology
series "Musik-Konzepte" (The concepts of music), Munich text+kritik-edition;
for this they received the Deutscher Kritikerpreis (German critics prize) in 1983.
Also, they edited the two first volumes of the Kompositionen von Adorno(?) b.
February 6th 1932 2010:
Gregory Isaacs (59) Jamaican
reggae singer; born
in Kingston, Jamaica he was also known as Cool
Ruler and Lonely Lover. In 1968, he made his recording debut with a duet with
Winston Sinclair, "Another Heartache". In 1973 he teamed up with Errol
Dunkley to start the African Museum record label and shop, and soon had a massive
hit with "My Only Lover", credited as the first lovers rock record ever
made. He string of hits in the three years that followed, ranging from ballads
to roots reggae, including "All I Have Is Love", "Lonely Soldier",
"Black a Kill Black", "Extra Classic", his cover version of
Dobby Dobson's "Loving Pauper" and his first Jamaican number one single
with "Love Is Overdue". By the late 1970s, he was one of the biggest
reggae performers in the world, regularly touring the US and the UK, and only
challenged by Dennis Brown and Bob Marley. Between 1977 and 1978, Greg again teamed
up with Alvin Ranglin, recording more hitsin cluding "Border" and "Number
One". In 1981, he made his first appearance at the Reggae Sunsplash festival,
returning annually until 1991. He performed at the ICC Cricket World Cup 2007
Inauguration at Jamaica, also
in 2007 he collaborated with the Spanish rap group Flowklorikos album Donde Duele
Inspira. In 2008, after some 40 years as a recording artist, Isaacs released a
new studio album Brand New Me, which was nominated for the Grammy Awards for 2010(sadly
Gregory lost his fight with lung cancer)
b. July 15th
1951.2012:
Joop Stokkermans (75)
Dutch composer. was an extremely important contributor to Dutch TV music, radio
music and commercials from the early 60s into the late 90s. He made the music
for series like 'Can you tell me the way to Hamelin' and 'Q and Q' . He was the
composer of fixed Jasparina de Jong and made numerous musicals. Also, he was active
in advertising, his most famous advertising jingle is perhaps for Kips Liver sausage
("Rather than ordinary Kips liverwurst liverwurst). Also in 1970 he recorded
a full album on the only working ARP available in Europe at the time, together
with help from technician Roddy de Hillster who programmed most of the sounds.
Although he is mainly known as a pianist, he also had a great interest for synthesizers
since they first appeared(?)
b. February 20th 19372013:
Lawrence Leighton Smith (77)American conductor
and pianist born in Portland, Oregon and earned bachelor's degrees from Portland
State Uni. in 1956 and Mannes College of Music in 1959. He won 1st prize in the
Mitropoulos International Conducting Competition in 1964. He was assistant conductor
at the Metropolitan Opera 1964-1967 and music director of the Westchester Symphony
Orchestra 1967-1969. He was principal guest conductor of the Phoenix Symphony
1970-1973, music director of the Austin Symphony 1972-1973, music director of
the Oregon Symphony 1973-1980, the San Antonio Symphony 1980-1985, principal guest
conductor of the North Carolina Symphony 1980-1981, music director of the Louisville
Orchestra 19831994, principal guest conductor of the New Jersey Symphony
Orchestra 1997-2000 and artistic director of the Philharmonia Orchestra of Yale
from 1995-2004.
As a pianist he has accompanied many artists, including Franco Corelli, Sherrill
Milnes, Zara Nelsova, Ruggiero Ricci, Jennie Tourel, Renata Tebaldi, Walter Trampler,
and Pinchas Zukerman. He has also recorded the complete works for 2 pianos by
Ferruccio Busoni, with fellow pianist Daniell Revenaugh(?)
b. April 8th 1936 2014: Jack Bruce/John Symon Asher
Bruce (71)Scottish
bassist born in Bishopbriggs,
Lanarkshire; his parents moved frequently, resulting in Jack attending 14 different
schools. As a teenager in the late 50s he began playing upright bass on the Glasgow
scene, performing every night, trad jazz, blues, and covers. He won a scholarship
to study cello and musical composition at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music
and Drama and played in Jim McHarg's Scotsville Jazz band to support himself while
at college. But the academy disapproved of Jazz, so classically trained Jack,
decided to leave college to pursue his musical career. After leaving he toured
Italy with the Murray Campbell Big Band, playing double bass. Then in 1962 he
became a member of the London-based band Blues Incorporated, led by Alexis Korner,
in which he played the upright bass. The band also included organist Graham Bond,
saxophonist Dick Heckstall-Smith and drummer Ginger Baker. >>>READ
MORE<<<(sadly
Jack died from liver disease)b. May 14th 1943. 2015:
Ronald Shawger (55) American cellist; growing
up in Seattle, the musician studied with Seattle Symphony principal cellist Raymond
Davis as a teenager, and later studied with Leonard Rose and Channing Robbins
at the Juilliard School in New York, earning Bachelors and Masters Degrees in
performance. In
1985 he joined the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, having previously performed as principal
cellist of the Seattle Symphony Youth Orchestra, and in the Pacific Northwest
Ballet and Chamber orchestras. He was appointed principal cellist of the Milwaukee
Symphony in 1988 at the age of 28, and left the orchestra in the mid-1990s due
to the onset of multiple sclerosis (sadly Ronald died from
complications of multiple sclerosis)b. 1960.

October 26th.1956:
Walter Gieseking (60)French pianist
born in Lyon; from 1911 to early 1916 he studied at the conservatorium in Hanover.
He had a very wide repertoire, ranging from various pieces by Bach and the core
works by Beethoven through to the concertos of Rachmaninoff and more modern works
by the likes of Busoni, Hindemith, Schoenberg, and the lesser-known Italian Petrassi.
He gave the premiere of the Piano Concerto by Pfitzner in 1923. Today, though,
he is primarily remembered as one of the greatest interpreters of two French composers
in particular: Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel. His recording of the complete
solo piano works of Debussy was the first such undertaking and has been re-released
on CD (?)
b. November 5th 1895.
1966:
Alma Cogan (34)British pop singer born
in Golders Green, London; In 1949, she became the resident singer at the Cumberland
Hotel in Marble Arch, where her original six week booking was extended to eighteen
months. Shae went on to be one of the biggest UK stars of the 50s. Her first release
was the 78 rpm record "To Be Worthy Of You" / "Would You"
recorded on her twentieth birthday in 1952. Between 1954
and 1960 she appeared on the UK Singles
Chart eighteen times with her 1955 "Dreamboat" reaching No.1. Other
hits included "Sugar ", "I Can't Tell a Waltz from a Tango",
"Little Things Mean a Lot", and "Willie Can" (sadly
lost to stomach cancer)b. May 19th 1932. 1994:
Wilbert Harrison (65)
American singer, pianist, guitarist, harmonica player,
born
in Charlotte, North Carolina, began performing in a calypso-based style releasing
2 singles "This Woman Of Mine" and "Letter Edged In Black"
before moving to Newark, New Jersey, where he had his first Billboard No.1 record
in 1959 with the song "Kansas City". The song was written in 1951 and
was one of the first credited collaborations by the team of Jerry Leiber and Mike
Stoller. His next No.1 hit came in 1969 with "Let's Stick Together."
His other hits included, "C.C. Rider" "Stagger Lee" "My
Love" "Girls On Parade" "Clementine" "My Babe"
"New York's World Fair" and "Until The Real Thing Comes Along"
and his last hit, "My Heart Is Yours" in '71 although Wilbert continued
to perform for many years (?)b. January
5th 1929.1995: Gorni Kramer/Kramer Gorni (81)Italian
accordian, double bass player, bandleader,
composer, songwriter; he learnt
the accordian as a child, then studied double bass at the Conservatory in Parma
and obtained his diploma in 1930. He started working as a musician for dance bands,
then in 1933, aged 20, he formed his own jazz group. In 1949 Gorni Kramer started
working for Garinei and Giovannini, a very famous duo of impresarios who produced
musical comedies. Writing music for their shows was his main activity for the
following ten years. Their most successful productions were Gran Baldoria, Attanasio
cavallo vanesio, Alvaro piuttosto corsaro, Tobia candida spia, Un paio dali.
He went on to be one of the most famous Italian songwriters, musicians and band
leaders of the 20th Century and he wrote over a thousand songs (died
in Milan) b. July 13th
1913.1996:
Scott Murray/Murray Schaff (69)American
saxophone player and singer
with his own band Murray Schaff and his Aristocrats in the 50's, known as a very
uninhibited act in show business. He later had trios and bands under the name
of Scott Murray, he also owned the
Open End nightclub in New York City in the 60's (?)b. October 17th 1927.1999:
Hoyt Wayne
Axton (61)American country music singer-songwriter, and a film and television actor
born in Duncan, Oklahoma. His mother, Mae Boren Axton, co-wrote the classic rock
'n' roll song "Heartbreak Hotel", which became the first major hit for
Elvis Presley. Hoyt became prominent in the early 1960s, establishing himself
on the West Coast as a folk singer with an earthy style and powerful voice. Since
he first appeared on TV in The Story of a Folksinger in 1963, he has appeared
in many films and TV productions. As well as singing his own songs, a lott of
his songwriting efforts became well known by other artists throughout the world,
including Jealous Man", "Della and the Dealer", "The Pusher",
"Snowblind Friend", "No-No Song" "Joy to the World"
(which many know better by its opening lyric, "Jeremiah was a bullfrog!"),
"Lion in Winter", "When the Morning Comes"and "Greenback
Dollar". (sadly died after a series of heart attacks)b. March 25th 1938.2010: Billy Ruane (52)American manager
and tireless concert promoter from Boston; known best for the shows he booked
and his wild dancing at venues such as the Middle East and Green Street Grill.
Billy was a voluble and volatile presence on the Boston rock scene for three decades,
obsessed with music from jazz to rock, he
convinced Joseph and Nabil Sater at the Middle East Restaurant in Central Square
to present live music, opening up a new chapter in Boston rock in 1987(a cause of death has not yet been given, but Billy
was hospitalized Oct 18th for heart trouble, but checked himself out the same
day against medical advice)
b. November 10th 1957.2010:
James Phelps (78) American gospel and R&B singer, born in
Shreveport, Louisiana, founder of the Clefs of Calvary
and performed alongside Sam Cooke. In his late teens he moved to Chicago, where
he performed with several gospel groups including the Gospel Songbirds, the Holy
Wonders,
it was with the Holy Wonders that he performed
with Lou Rawls, and the Soul Stirrers
where he sang backing their 1964 classic "Lead Me to the Calvary" with
Sam Cooke as lead vocals. He
left the Soul Stirrers and shifted his focus to rhythm and blues when his Love
Is a Five-Letter Word became a hit in 1965. As a solo act, he went on to
tour with R&B greats such as Otis Redding and James Brown. By the mid-70s
his recording career was over, but he continued to perform both gospel and secular
songs for many years.(James
sadly died from complications of diabetes)b.
April 2nd 1932.2012: Jo Dunne (43)British
guitarist born in Birmingham; she rose to fame
in the 1980s as part of all-girl rock group
We've Got a Fuzzbox and We're Going to Use it, also known as just Fuzzbox. They
had hits with tracks including 'Love is the Slug' and 'Pink Sunshine'(sadly Jo died while fighting cancer) b. November
12th 19682012: Louis Nunley (81)American baritone singer born in Sikeston, Missouri,
and was raised in Anderson, Indiana. In 1948, he moved to Nashville to attend
David Lipscomb College, where he made his first commercial recordings in 1949,
and graduated in 1952, with a major in Mathematics. He became a member of The
Anita Kerr Singers in February 1953, he is one of the twenty or so performing
musicians, including The Jordanaires, whose contributions to recordings were the
basis of what has become known the world over as "The Nashville Sound".
In 1956, The Anita Kerr Quartet won the popular "Arthur Godfrey Talent Scouts
Show". Louis had stayed busy in the " background singing business"
through the 50's, 60's, 70's, 80's, 90's and went strong till his death. Louis
has recorded with hundreds of artists, some of whom are: Red Foley, Brenda Lee,
Burl Ives, Jim Reeves, Al Hirt, Pete Fountain, Floyd Cramer, Marty Robbins, Patsy
Cline, Eddy Arnold, Perry Como, Dolly Parton, Engelbert Humperdinck, Randy Travis,
Kenny Rogers, Garth Brooks, and, yes, Elvis Presley and the list goes on. Louis
has filled in with "The Jordanaires" when needed for over forty-five
years, subbing for everyone in the group at one time or another(?)
b. October 15th 1931.2013: Tony Brevett (6?)Jamaican musician and founding member of The Melodians,
who are one of Jamaica's greatest Rocksteady groups, recording classic singles
during the late '60s and early '70s that included the internationally famed "Rivers
of Babylon"and "Sweet Sensation".Tony
formed the group in the Greenwich Town area of Kingston in 1965 along with Brent
Dowe and Trevor McNaughton, also, close friend Renford Cogle assisted with writing
and arranging material. In 1966 they made their recording debut with "Lay
It On" followed by "Meet Me", "I Should Have Made It Up",
"Let's Join Hands (Together)", "You Have Caught Me," "Expo
67," "I'll Get Along Without You," "You Don't Need Me",
"Come On Little Girl", "Little Nut Tree" and "Swing and
Dine". They recorded their biggest hit "Rivers
of Babylon" in
1970 which appeared in the soundtrack to the 1972 movie The Harder They Come,
the 1999 Nicolas Cage movie Bringing Out the Dead and the 2010 Philip Seymour
Hoffman film Jack Goes Boating. Tony and Trevor McNaughton were on a U.S. tour
commemorating The Melodians' 50th anniversary before Tony fell ill(sadly died while fighting cancer)
b.????2013: Al Johnson/Alfred Orlando Johnson (65)American soul singer born in Newport News, Virginia
and attended Howard University in Washington, D.C. where he co-founded the soul
group, The Unifics. The group, with Al as lead singer, had several hits in the
late 60s including "Court Of Love" and "The Beginning Of The End".
In 1978 he recorded a solo album, "Peaceful" which he co-wrote, co-produced
and arranged. In 1979 sung on jazz/soul producer Norman Connors' album, "Invitation"
singing the lead track, "Your Love".In
1980, Al collaborated with Norman, for an album, Back for More, which produced
hit singles "I'm Back for More" and "I've Got My Second Wind".
In
the 90s, he worked with leading soul group, "The Whispers" on several
albums and in 1999, released another solo album for an independent label, Clout.
Johnson re-formed the Unifics with original group member, Tom Fauntleroy and also
toured with a solo gospel show. The group issued a new album, "Unifics Return"
in 2005(?)
b. February 11th 1948. 2015:
David Rodriguez (63)American
folk music singer-songwriter, musician, and poet, born in Houston, Texas. At the
age of two he contracted polio, as a result he has worn a leg brace and walked
with a cane ever since and ecause his mobility was restricted his parents bought
him a guitar. By the age of fourteen David was playing in a rock band, a year
later in a folk group, and by the close of his teens was the pianist in an avant-garde
ensemble. By his early 20s, David was a law and economics graduate, based in Austin,
Texas, where he spent well over the next decade playing music in Texas listening
rooms. In 1992, 1993 and 1994, he was voted the best Texas songwriter in an Austin
poll by the music magazine, Third Coast Music. In 1994, David and his family decided
to settle in The Netherlands, where he lived until his death. He continued songwriting
and performing, and in some concerts, David was accompanied by his daughter Carrie
Rodriguez on fiddle. (?) b. January 1st 1952.
2015: Sya Styles/Rachid Aït Baar(37) French DJ, rapper
and producer born in Marseille; in 1992 he formed the rap group KDB/Kid Dog Black
with his childhood friends Segnor Alonzo, Don Vincenzo Soprano and three cousins
of Comorian origin. They soon changed the name to Psy 4 de la Rime and recorded
3 albums before they split in 2008 to follow single careers. The group reunited
in 2013 for their fourth and sadly Sya's late album "4eme Dimension"
(Sya died following a disease, according to a report
in the Parisien) b. April 25th 1978.2016:
Raj Begum (89)Indian singer, born in Srinagar
and went on to be one of the leading
Kashmiri singers of the 20th century. In 2002 she
was honored with Padma Shri and the Sangeet Natak Academy Award in 2013, Indias
highest honour to a practicing artists.(?)
b. March 27th 1927.

October
27th.1949: Ginette Neveu
(30)French violinist born
in Paris, a violin virtuoso who dazzled audiences in her Europe and UK with her
performances, and listeners around the world with her recordings. At age 15, she
achieved worldwide celebrity status when she won the Henryk Wieniawski Violin
Competition over 180 contestants. Over the next two years, saw her give solo performances
at the leading concert halls of Germany, Poland, the Soviet Union, America, and
Canada. She finally make her London debut in 1945 after World
War II. Her brother Jean-Paul accompanied her on piano, and
the two toured post-war Europe extensively, appearing at the Prague Spring International
Music Festival, as well as tours in Australia and South America.
(Ginette and her brother died in a plane crash
in the Azores, on their way for an
America tour)b.
August 11th 19191980:
Steve Peregrin Took/Stephen Porter (31)English
drummer, percussion, and harmony vocalist born in London. At 17, having played
drums for some months with a mod band The Waterproof Sparrows, he answered an
ad in Melody Maker for the electric band that Marc Bolan was forming. Eventuall
Tyrannosaurus Rex, championed by John Peel went onto the club and stage circuit
and thence into the record shops, released three albums and achieved two top 40
hits. While in Tyrannosaurus Rex, Steve also appeared as a backing vocalist on
a session for David Bowie, the results of which can be heard on the BBC sessions
album, Bowie at the Beeb. His drug habit got so bad Steve was sacked before the
US T.Rex tour, but he was contractually obliged to go on the US tour, his heart
was not in it and he 'drowned his sorrows' in as much drugs as possible. Over
the last years of his life he formed many projects including The Pink Fairies,
Shagrat, Steve Took's Horns' (he choked on a cherry stone,
after some magic mushrooms had numbed his throat. The death certificate records
the cause of death as being due to asphyxiation after inhaling a cocktail cherry.
Drugs were not listed as a contributing factor, though his death is often listed
as a "drugs misadventure")b.
July 28th 1949.1986:
Alan Branscombe (50)English
jazz pianist, vibraphonist, and alto saxophonist born in Wallasey, Merseyside,
and
played drums with Victor Feldman in a talent show as a child. He began on alto
sax at age six, and played in the army with Jeff Clyne in 1954-56. He toured and
recorded with Vic Ash in 1958, recorded with Tony Kinsey in 1959, and toured Japan
with Stanley Black in 1960. Then Alan worked with John Dankworth as pianist and
vibraphonist on and off between 1960 and 1972, including in the 1963 film The
Savant. He joined Harry South's band at Ronnie Scott's club in the mid-1960s,
and played as a sideman with Tubby Hayes (1964), Stan Tracey (196668), Paul
Gonsalves (1969), Ben Webster (1965, 1970), and Albert Nicholas (1973). He toured
in Europe with Stan Getz in 1970, and played with the Lamb-Premru group around
1971. He also recorded as a leader with Kinsey and Tony Coe as sidemen on the
album The Day I Met the Blues in 1977. As a session musician, he played tenor
saxophone on The Beatles "Got to Get You into My Life"
(?)b. June 4th 1936.1990: Xavier Cugat/Francisco d'Asís Javier Cugat
Mingall de Bru y Deleufo (90)Spanish
violinist, band leader of Catalan origin who spent his formative years in Havana,
Cuba; one of the pioneers of Latin-American dance music. During his eight decade
long career, Xavier
helped to popularize the tango, the cha-cha, the mambo and the rhumba. In the
late 1920s, as sound began to be used in films, he put together another tango
band that had some success in early short musical films. By the early 1930s, he
began appearing with his group in feature films. He took his band to New York
for the 1931 opening of Waldorf Astoria Hotel, for 16 years he helmed the Waldorf-Astoria
Hotel's Orchestra. He shuttled between New York and Los Angeles
for most of the next 30 years, alternating hotel and radio dates with movie appearances
(Xavier
sadly died in Barcelona,
his band continued to perform under the direction of Ada Cavallo)b.
January 1st 1900.2000:
Walter Berry (71) Austrian bass-baritone singer
born in Vienna; he
studied voice at the Vienna Music Academy and made his debut at the Vienna State
Opera in 1947. He was a frequent performer at the Metropolitan Opera in New York
City during the 60s and '70s in roles such as Wotan in Die Walküre, Barak
in Die Frau ohne Schatten, as Telramund in Lohengrin, Baron Ochs in Der Rosenkavalier,
Don Pizarro in Fidelio, as Don Alfonso in Così fan tutte, the Music Master
in Ariadne auf Naxos and Leporello in Don Giovanni. He sang his last Barak on
14 April 1978. (?)b. April
8th 1929. 2000: Winston Grennan (56)
Jamaican drummer, famous session player from 1963 to 1873 in Jamaica and in New
York City through the 1970s and '80s. He has toured and recorded with Bob Marley
to Marvin Gaye to to Dizzy Gillespie to The Rolling Stones and dozens in between.
He appeared in the film 9 1/2 Weeks in 1985, with his Ska Rocks band, which he
assembled in the 1980's and which stayed active in various incarnations until
his death (sadly Winston died while fighting cancer)
b. September 16th 1944.2002: Tom Dowd (77)American musician born in Manhattan; he grew up playing piano, violin,
tuba, and string bass and went on to become a top recording engineer and producer
for Atlantic Records. He was credited with innovating the multi-track recording
method. Dowd worked on a virtual "who's who" of recordings that encompassed
blues, jazz, pop, rock and soul records. He engineered numerous jazz dates by
Ornette Coleman, Charles Mingus, John Coltrane, the Modern Jazz Quartet and Ray
Charles, among many others; a producer for Eric Clapton, Rod Stewart, Lynyrd Skynyrd,
Chicago, MeatLoaf and the James Gang to mention a few (sadly
passed away with emphysema)b. October 20th 1925.2004: Claude Helffer (82) French pianist born
in Paris, noted particularly for his advocacy of 20th-century music.
During the War he entered the élite École polytechnique and fought
for the Resistance. After the War he studied theory and composition with René
Leibowitz. He made his début in Paris in 1948 and from 1954 appeared regularly
in the concerts of the Domaine musical. Claude gave many premières of new
works and was the dedicatee of several notable works, including Erikhthon - Xenakis,
1974; Concerto - Boucourechliev, 1975; Stances - Betsy Jolas, 1978; Concerto No.
1 - Luis de Pablo, 1980; Envoi - Gilles Tremblay, 1982; and Modifications - Michael
Jarrell, 1983. He gave master classes all over the world, most notably at the
Salzburg Summer Academy(?)
b. June 18th 1922.2004: Lester Lanin (97)American jazz and pop music bandleader; he
quit school to play music in his teens and beginning in 1927, he led ensembles
that were paid to play at the houses of wealthy socialites in Philadelphia and
New York, continuing after the 1929 stock market crash. In 1930, he was hired
to play at a gala for Barbara Hutton, and the event garnered so much press in
New York newspapers that it made him a star. Lester became a major star of the
dance music world, and was hired worldwide to play for kings and queens, in addition
to a recurring invitation to play at White House inaugural balls from the Eisenhower
administration to the Carter administration. His popularity increased upon the
advent of the LP era. Starting with Epic Records in the middle of the 1950s, he
recorded a string of albums for several labels, many of which hit the US Billboard
200. He continued performing well into the 1990s. In 1999 Lester played himself
in the black and white film comedy Man of the Century, where he was the favorite
musician of lead character Johnny Twennies (?)
b. August 26th 1907.2007:
Ricky Parent (41) American drummer; he spent his childhood in New Jersey
and New York learning to play the drums from the age of 5 on his Mickey Mouse
drum kit. His main main influence was John Bonham, others have included Buddy
Rich, Tony Williams, Terry Bozzio, and Simon Phillips. He relocated to LA and
got his first high profile gig with War & Peace, a band fronted by Jeff Pilson.
When Vince Neil left Motley Crue, Ricky was called on to lay down some drum tracks
for Vinces solo project, before he joined Enuff Znuff. Ricky relocated
to the bands home base of Chicago becoming an official member in 1992 where
he was a mainstay of the group on stage and in the studio until 2004 when he took
a leave of absence after being diagnosed with cancer. Over his last three years
Ricky had been involved in other bands and projects including a brief stint with
Alice Cooper as well as playing with Sass Jordan and Tod Howarth's Frehleys Comet
(sadly Ricky died of cancer)
b. September 5th 1966.2012:
Natina Reed (32)American
singer, rapper, actress and songwriter born in New York City. She was a member
of the R&B trio Blaque. On most of Blaque's songs, she is featured as a rapper,
except on "Mind of a King" where she sings the song entirely on her
own. She was a protégée of the late rapper Left Eye. Natina also
contributed
her own raps to many of Blaque's past singles, including "808", "Can't
Get it Back" and "Bring It All to Me" (remix).(tragically
died in a car accident as she was walking on a state highway in Atlanta, Georgia)b. October 28th 19792012: Hans Werner Henze (86)German
composer of prodigious output best known for "his consistent cultivation
of music for the theatre throughout his life". His music is extremely varied
in style, having been influenced by serialism, atonality, Stravinsky, Italian
music, Arabic music and jazz, as well as traditional schools of German composition.
Noted works include Symphony No.9, Elegy for Young Lovers, The Raft
of the Medusa (?)
b. July 1st 1926.2012: Nada Rudjak
(78)Croatian opera
singer; she debuted in 1963, after
a stint in theatre "Comedy", the scene Zagreb National Theatre as Gilda
in Verdi's "Rigoletto", she won both the audience and the critics. Nada
spent most of her career on that same stage, as a champion of the Opera, with
frequent appearances in numerous international opera houses. The highlight of
her career was as Verdi's "La Traviata" (?) b.19342013: Vinko Coce (59)Croatian
opera and pop singer, born in Trogir, and joined the klapa Trogir in 1972. Between
1983 and 1988, he was a tenor in the mixed choir of the Croatian National Theatre
in Split. He started a solo singing career in 1991, during which he won the Grand
Prix at the Split Festival with the song Sica li se, Lungomare and he also
won a Porin with the klapa Trogir (sadly died after
a long struggle with diabetes) b. December 22nd
19542013:
Mr.Chips (24)Honduran
reggae artist (tragically shot to death) b.
19892013: Lou Reed (71)American
rock singer-songwriter and guitarist, was born in Brooklyn and grew up on Long
Island. A self taught guitarist his first recording was as a member of a doo wop-style
group, The Jades. As a teenager, in 1956, Lou, who was bisexual, went through
the horrors of electroconvulsive therapy which was intended to cure his bisexuality;
he wrote about the experience in his 1974 song, "Kill Your Sons". In
1960 he entered Syracuse University to study journalism, film directing, and creative
writing. In 1964, he moved to New York City where he worked as an in-house songwriter
for Pickwick Records. While there he was in a band "The Primitives",
which included Welsh musician John Cale. They had a minor hit with "The Ostrich",
before forming Velvet Underground>>>
READ MORE
<<<
(earlier
this year, in May, he underwent a liver transplant, but tragically, Lou who had
not been well for the last few months, has died from a "liver-related ailment")
b. March 2nd
1942.2014:
Shin Hae-chul (46) South Korean pop singer, born in Seoul; he has been
involved in many musical projects as musician, singer, and producer since his
debut in 1988. He introduced the techno music technique to his country in 1998,
with his album Monocrom. After which, he spent nearly 2 years in London and New
York City, to develop his production skills. His musical projects include Wittgenstein;
No Dance; Monocrom; and N.EX.T
('New EXpermintal Team').
His music covers nearly every style conceivable and he disbanded N.EX.T. after
their 4th album, Lazenca: A Space Rock Opera, citing he has achieved everything
he can with a band. He was also involved with composing the soundtrack to the
Korean release of Guilty Gear XX. (sadly died from
a heart attack)b. May 6th 19682015:
Herbie Goins (76) American R&B singer, born in Ocala, Florida,
and sang in his local church as a child before forming his first blues group,
The Teen Kings. He later moved to NYC and continued his singing career, opening
for such acts as B. B. King, Bobby Bland and Sam Cooke. He was drafted in the
late 1950s and served as a GI in the medical corps in Germany, with Edwin Starr,
after which he joined Eric Delaney's band, with whom he travelled to England.
He then joined the Chris Barber Band before, in late 1963, becoming the featured
singer in Alexis Korner's band, Blues Incorporated, until 1965, when he fronted
the "mod" and later "northern soul" band, Nightimers/Night-Timers.
In the 80s Herbie worked to Italy as a songwriter and record producer, and in
television. He released several funk records in Italy and also collaborated with
Italian blues guitarist Guido Toffoletti on several albums. In the late 1980s,
he led the Herbie Goins Soul Band, mainly at festivals in Europe but also in the
US and Britain, and also occasionally reunited for shows with Barber and Heckstall-Smith.
In 2009 he toured the UK with Cliff Bennett, Chris Farlowe and the Norman Beaker
Band. He also led a gospel vocal group, Stars of Joy (sadly
Herbie died in Italy)b. February 21st 1939. 2016:
Nelson Pinedo (88) Colombian singer born
in Barranquilla; he worked as a clerk, radio operator, banking assistant and radio
DJ before achieving fame across Latin America. His got his big break when
he replaced the singer of Voz de la Patria, after which he began to
collaborate with musicians across the continent. He became the only Colombian
ever to sing with the Cuban orchestra Sonora Matancera. They began recording together
in 1954, the same year he won Best Foreign Artist in Havana, in a
partnership that lasted five and a half years. They recorded for concerts, TV,
cabaret, and a film by Cuban director Rene Cardona. After which he enjoyed a successful
solo career across South America and he continued to enjoy fame for two decades
before moving to Venezuela for a quieter life with his family.(died
from complications after an earlier stroke)
b. February 10th 19282016: Bobby Wellins (80)
Scottish jazz saxophonist, born in Glasgow,
maybe best known for his collaboration with Stan Tracey on the British jazz album
Jazz Suite Inspired by Dylan Thomas' "Under Milk Wood". Bobby was a
member of Buddy Featherstonhaugh's quintet between 1956-57, before joining drummer
Tony Crombie's Jazz Inc. In the early 60s he joined Stan Tracey's quartet. He
also worked with Lionel Grigson in 1976. At the end of the 1970s he was a member
of the Jim Richardson Quartet. In the mid-1970s he led his own quartet and in
the 1980s he formed a quintet with fellow sax player Don Weller and then with
guitarist Jim Mullen, after which he led various quartets. In 2012, Bobby was
the subject of a documentary film, Dreams are Free; the film traces the rise,
fall and redemption of Bobby, showing how he overcame addiction and depression,
and rediscovered the desire to play(sadly
died after a long illness) b. January 24th 1936.

October 28th.1949:
Ginette Neveu (30) French
violinist; a child prodigy, Ginette took lessons from her mother and made her
solo debut at the age of seven with the Concerts Colonne in Paris. After studying
under Line Talluel, later Jules Boucherit at the Paris Conservatory, she completed
her training with instruction from George Enescu, Nadia Boulanger, and Carl Flesch.
She went on to sign a two year touring contract giving solo performances at the
leading concert halls of Germany, Poland, the Soviet Union, the United States,
and Canada. She was able to make her London debut in 1945 after WW11. She gave
her last concert on October 20th 1949.(Ginette
and her brother were on an Air France flight en route of a series of concert engagements.
All 48 passengers on board the flight, died when the plane flew into a mountain
after 2 failed attempts to make a landing at the São Miguel Island airport
in the Azores)*August 11th 1919.
1964: Heinrich Gustavovich Neuhaus (76) Soviet pianist and pedagogue
born in Elisavetgrad now Kirovohrad, Ukraine. In 1902 aged 14, he gave a recital
in Elisavetgrad with the 11-year-old Mischa Elman and in 1904 gave concerts in
Dortmund, Bonn, Cologne and Berlin. After which he studied in Berlin and from
1909 until the outbreak of World War I he studied his master classes in Vienna
Academy of Music. He taught at the Moscow Conservatory from 1922 to 1964 and was
made a People's Artist of the RSFSR in 1956. His pedagogic book The Art of Piano
Playing -1958 is regarded as one of the most authoritative and most widely used
treatments on the subject (?)
b. April 12th 1888 1965: Earl Bostic (52)American alto saxophonist
born in Tulsa, he turned professional at age 18 when he joined Terence Holder's
'Twelve Clouds of Joy'. He made his first recording with Lionel Hampton in Oct
1939. He went on to form his own bands which became important training grounds
for up-and-coming jazzmen with the likes of John Coltrane, Blue Mitchell, Benny
Golson, Stanley Turrentine, and Jaki Byard. His popular hits included "Flamingo",
"Harlem Nocturne", "Temptation", "Sleep" and "Where
or When", which showed off his characteristic growl on the horn. (sadly
died of a heart attack)b.
April 25th 1913.1975:
Oliver Nelson (43)
US jazz saxophonist; began learning to play the piano when he was six, and started
on the saxophone at eleven. From 1947 he played in "territory" bands
around Saint Louis, before joining the Louis Jordan big band from 1950 to 1951,
playing alto saxophone and arranging. After six albums as leader between 1959
and 1961 with such musicians as Kenny Dorham, Johnny Hammond Smith, Eric Dolphy,
Roy Haynes, King Curtis and Jimmy Forrest, Oliver's big breakthrough came with
The Blues and the Abstract Truth, on Impulse!, featuring the tune "Stolen
Moments," now considered a standard. This made his name as a composer and
arranger, and he went on to record a number of big-band albums, as well as working
as an arranger for Cannonball Adderley, Sonny Rollins, Eddie Davis, Johnny Hodges,
Wes Montgomery, Buddy Rich, Jimmy Smith, Billy Taylor, Stanley Turrentine, Irene
Reid, Gene Ammons and many others and he led all-star big bands between 1966 and
1975. Oliver also spent a great deal of time composing music for television and
films, including Death of a Gunfighter, Ironside, Night Gallery, Columbo, The
Six Million Dollar Man, The Bionic Woman, and Longstreet, and producing and arranging
for pop stars such as Nancy Wilson, James Brown, the Temptations, and Diana Ross
(heart attack)b.
June 4th 19321978: Rukmani Devi/Nightingale of Sri Lanka/Daisy Rasammah
Daniels (55)Sri Lankan singer and actress,
she grew up in Colombo and attended St. Matthew's School and then moved on to
St. Clare's School, Wellawatte. She started on the stage at 12 years old. In
1938, she captured the hearts of the masses with
her first audio recording of the famous song "Siri Buddhagaya Vihare"
and she shaped her career from an actress to a singer. Her unique voice attracted
many music directors, as her singing career moved from the stage to the silver
screen. In the mid sixties she joined the sinhala calypso musical group 'Los Cabelleros'
led by late Neville Fernando. They recorderd ever popular sinhala songs such as
'Malbara Himidiriye','Menike Obe sinawe' & 'Sandak nage'. (Rukmai
sadly died in a tragic motor accident near St. Mary's Church, Thudella, when returning
after a musical show)b.
January 15th 1923. 1989: Henry Hall (91)
British bandleader born in Peckham, South London and served in both
the Salvation Army and the British Army. He was engaged by the London Midland
and Scottish Railway in charge of the music throughout their then large chain
of hotels. This included Gleneagles, where he had formerly led the band. It was
from there that the BBC took him in 1932 as successor to Jack Payne as leader
of the BBC Dance Orchestra where he gathered a huge following. His signature tune
was "It's Just the Time for Dancing" and he usually ended with "Here's
to the Next Time". In 1932 he recorded the song "Teddy Bears' Picnic"
with his BBC Orchestra. The record gained enormous popularity and has sold over
a million copies. In 1937 he left the BBC to tour Europe with his band, which
comprised many of his BBC band. During WW2, he played for the troops and after
developed his show business interests becoming something of an agent and producer.
His BBC work again blossomed as he hosted Henry Hall's Guest Night on the radio
and later TV, as well as the programme Face the Music. Henry last appeared as
a bandleader in 1969 before retiring to Eastbournethe.The following year his service
to music was recognised by the award of the OBE (?)b. May
2nd 1898. 2001: Gerard Hengeveld (90) Dutch classical pianist,
music composer and educator; especially known for his compositions of study material
for piano. Other compositions include two piano concertos, a violin sonata, and
a sonata for cello. He was an able interpreter and performer of the music of Bach
for piano and harpsichord. He gave regular concerts in the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam,
some captured on record (?)b.
December 7th 1910.2003: Oliver Sain (71)American saxophone player, band leader, songwriter, producer, Archway studio
owner and all-around St. Louis music legend; exerted an influence on the evolution
of St. Louis soul and R&B that is rivaled only by that of his close friend
and infrequent collaborator Ike Turner. In 1949, he moved to Greenville, Mississippi
to join his stepfather, pianist Willie Love, as a drummer in a band fronted by
Sonny Boy Williamson, soon leaving to join Howlin Wolf as a drummer on and
off for the following decade. After returning from the US Army draft he took up
the saxophone. Oliver is credited with launching the career of Little Milton,
who became a vocalist is Olivers band, and discovering Bobby McClure and
Fontella Bass, who he originally hired as pianist for Little Milton.(sadly he died from a bone cancer
that had followed on from a previous bladder cancer he developed in 1995)
b. March 1st 1932.FURTHER INFORMATION From
Sally GreenhouseOliver bore an astonishing
family resemblance to his beloved and doting Aunt, Addie Philips, who had migrated
to St Louis from a sharecropper's family in the Mississippi Delta in her teens.
Addie attended his gigs for decades, as one of his most faithful fans.Their speaking
voices, incredibly, were also incredibly similar. In her nursing home room, back
in Shelby Mississippi, where she had to return after a major heart attack in her
mid-70's, Addie had 3 framed portraits on her wall: her mother, at 106 years of
age; her nephew, Oliver Sain, the son of her older sister; and myself, whom she
raised in Clayton, Missouri. He died 14 months after her passing, August 15, 2002.
She, too, was an extraordinary being.. Thankyou Sally2004:
Gil Mellé (72) American artist, jazz musician and film composer,
Gil played the tenor and baritone saxophone with George Wallington, Max Roach,
Tal Farlow, Oscar Pettiford, Ed Thigpen, Kenny Dorham and Zoot Sims. In the 50s,
his paintings and sculptures were shown in New York galleries and he created the
cover art for albums by Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk and Sonny Rollins. As a film
and TV composer, he was one of the first to use electronic instruments, which
he built himself, either alone or as an added voice among the string, wind, brass,
and percussion sections of the orchestra and he was the first to compose a main
theme for a TV series arranged entirely for electronic instruments - Rod Serling's
Night Gallery. His 125 film credits include My Sweet Charlie, That Certain Summer,
The Savage is Loose, The Andromeda Strain, The Judge and Jake Wyler, several Columbo
TV movies, Frankenstein: The True Story, The Six Million Dollar Man, Night Gallery
and Kolchak: The Night Stalker(Heart
attack)b. December 31st 1931.2006: Marijohn Wilkin (86)American songwriter born in Texas, famous in the country music genre for
writing a number of hits. She won numerous awards over the years and was referred
to as "The Den Mother of Music Row," as chronicled in her 1978 biography
from Word Books 'Lord, Let Me Leave a Song' written with Darryl E. Hicks, and
named "One of The 100 Most Important Books About Nashville". Marijohn
may be most famous for "One Day at a Time", often considered the biggest
gospel song of the 1970s. She is credited for the discovery of Kris Kristofferson
and being the first person to give him work as a legitimate songwriter and became
the first to publish his songs, notably "For the Good Times", which
in 1970 became a massive pop and country hit for Ray Price.(?)
b. July 14th 1920.2007: Porter Wayne Wagoner (80)American
country music singer; famous for his flashy Nudie suits and blond pompadour. He
was a featured performer on ABC-TV's Ozark Jubilee and moved to Nashville, joining
the Grand Ole Opry in 1957. He introduced a young Dolly Parton to his long-running
TV show, The Porter Wagoner Show which ran on syndicated television from '60 to
'81.. Together, "Porter and Dolly" were a well-known duet team for many
years. His 81 charted records include two No.1 hit "Satisfied Mind"
and Misery Loves Company; and many top 10 hits including I've
Enjoyed As Much of This As I Can Stand; Sorrow on the Rocks;
Green Green Grass of Home; Skid Row Joe; The Cold
Hard Facts of Life; and The Carroll County Accident. Among his
hit duets with Dolly Parton were a covers of Tom Paxton's "The Last Thing
on My Mind"; "We'll Get Ahead Someday"; "Just Someone I Used
To Know"; "Better Move it on Home"; "The Right Combination";
"Please Don't Stop Loving Me" and "Making Plans". He also
won three Grammy Awards for gospel recordings (died fighting
lung cancer)b. August
12th 1927.2007: Jimmy
Makulis (72) Greek singer born
in Athens; he became a successful singer in his native Greece before moving to
Germany in the mid 1950s. In 1956 he had a hit with "Auf Cuba sind die Mädchen
braun". His biggest hit was "Gitarren klingen leise durch die nacht",
No.4 in 1959, and he continued to chart until 1964. He sang "Sehnsucht"
("Longing") representige Austria in the 1961 Eurovision Song Contest.
He relocated to the USA in 1965 livig and performing in Las Vegas. He moved back
to his native Greece in 1985, and in 1990 took part in the selection for that
year's Greek Eurovision entry, finishing fifth. He returned to Germany in the
early 1990s (died following heart
surgery in an Athens hospital) b. April 12th
1935.2009: Taylor Mitchell/Taylor
Josephine Stephanie Luciow (19)Canadian singer,
guitarist and songwriter raised in Toronto; she had graduated from the Etobicoke
School of the Arts with a major in musical theatre and had released an album 'For
Your Consideration' in March 2009. Taylor performed in the Winnipeg Folk Festival
in July and had just started a tour of the Maritimes on October 23rd 2009, and
was to perform in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island. A few
days before her death, Taylor was nominated for a Canadian Folk Music Award for
Young Performer of the Year. (Taylor was attacked
by two coyotes while hiking on the Skyline Trail in the Cape Breton Highlands
National Park in Nova Scotia. Tragically, she later died in hospital from the
injuries) b.August
27th 19902010: Walter Payton (68)
American jazz bassist and sousaphonist, born
in New Orleans. He played and toured with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band
and the influential group, the Young Tuxedo Brass Band. Walter also led his own
group called the Snap Bean Band and taught music at New Orleans' McDonogh 15 Elementary.
His recording credits include Lee Dorsey's "Working in the Coal Mine"
and Walter variously worked with Aaron Neville, Harry Connick Jr., Champion Jack
Dupree and Chuck Carbo and is the father of jazz trumpet player Nicholas Payton.(?)
b. August 23rd 19422010: White Jack/Jack Brokensha
(84) Australian
vibraphonist and percussionist, born in Adelaide; he initially studied percussion
under his father, and played xylophone in vaudeville shows and on radio. He played
with the Australian Symphony Orchestra during 1942-44, and played in a band in
the Air Force in 1944-46. Forming his own group, he played in Melbourne in 1947-48,
Sydney in 1949-50, Brisbane later in 1950, and Adelaide in 1951. In '53 he moved
to Windsor, Ontario, Canada with pianist Bryce Rohde... read
more...(died in Sarasota, America, from
congestive heart failure)b.
January 5th 1926.2011: Beryl Davis (87)British big band singer and actress; born in
Plymouth, England, she began to sing for her father's band, and became popular
singing for British and Allied troops during World War II. Glenn Miller discovered
her in London, and she sang for the Army Air Force Orchestra. She moved to Los
Angeles after the war with her father's big band, and worked with Frank Sinatra
for one year on Your Hit Parade.She was part of The Four
Girls singing group, with Jane Russell, Rhonda Fleming, and Connie Haines. They
recorded albums and sixteen best selling singles including "The Magic of
Believing", "Somewhere List'nin'", "Jacob's Ladder" and
"The World is Not My Home". Beryl also appeared both in variety shows
and films (tragically died from complications of Alzheimer's
disease)b. March 16th 1924.
2011: Walter Norris (79)American
jazz pianist and composer born in Little Rock, Arkansas; he started out with the
Howard Williams Band in and around Little Rock during his junior high and high
school years. After a two year tour while in the US Air Forcem he played with
Jimmy Ford in Houston, before moving to LA, where he became an integral part of
the West Coast Jazz scene. He played on Jack Sheldon's first album and on Ornette
Coleman's first album, Something Else! The Music of Ornette Coleman.
In 1960 Walter moved to New York City and formed
a trio with guitarist Billy Bean and bassist Hal Gaylor, and the group made one
album. Norris took a job at the New York City Playboy Club in 1963 and in time
became the club's Director of Entertainment, remaining there until 1970. He next
recorded and toured Europe with the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Band, before joining
the Charles Mingus Quintet in 1976, but after a confrontation with Charles, Walter
left the band and moved to
Berlin, Germany, accepting a job as pianist with
the Sender Freies Berlin-Orchestra. In 1990, Walter signed a five-album contract
with Concord Records. The resulting recordings were all significant, but especially
Sunburst with saxophonist Joe Henderson, Hues of Blues, with George Mraz, and
the Live at Maybeck Recital Hall solo piano album. In 1998, he also self-financed
the album From Another Star, made in New York with bassist Mike Richmond, pressing
1,000 copies. A documentary film directed by Chuck Dodson, Walter Norris, a documentary,
was completed in 2010(sadly
died at in Berlin, Germany) b. December 27th 19312013:
Layne Redmond (61)American drummer, frame drum
expert, writer, teacher, historian and mythologist. The February 2000 issue of
Drum! listed her as one of the 53 Heavyweight Drummers Who Made A Difference in
the 1990s, and is the only woman on this list. For 15 years, she researched the
history of the hand-held frame drum (the world's oldest known drum) in religious
and healing rites in the ancient Mediterranean world culminating in her 1997 book,
'When the Drummers Were Women'. The book details a lost history of a time when
women were the primary percussionists in the ancient world and also explains why
they are not today. She has featured in many music festivals
including the Touch Festival in Berlin, Seattle Bumbershoot Festival, the UFBA
Percussion Festival in Salvador, Brazil, the Vienna International Percussion Festival,
the World Wide Percussion Festival in Salvador, Brazil, the Marranzano World Festival,
the Institute for Contemporary Art in London and Tambores do Mundo in San Luis,
Brazil. In the spring of 2007 she presented and performed at the Univ. of Florida's
Health and Spirituality Program and at Stanford University. In April she taught
and performed at a traditional tambourine festival in Sicily (?)
b. August 19th 1952. 2013: Ferdinand Havlík
(85) Czech clarinetist , arranger, composer,
bandleader, conductor of the theater orchestra, occasional film actor and co-founder
of Semafor theatre in Prague. The theatre was a starting point for many famous
Czech musicians such as Karel Gott and Hana Hegerová.He
was the longtime music arranger and bandleader of Semaor Theatre Orchestra. He
was also a well respected swing and jazz clarinetist soloist (?)
b. June 17th 1928.2014: David Trendell (50)British organist and lecturer who specialised in the music
of William Byrd. He began his career as assistant organist at Winchester College.
In 1989, he moved to Oxford and was appointed Organist at University Church of
St Mary the Virgin and thereafter was Tutor at St Hugh's, St Hilda's and Oriel
colleges. He arrived at King's College London in 1992 as Director of Chapel Choir
and lecturer in Music and remained there until his death. While at King's, he
was credited in bringing to prominence the chapel choir. The choir regularly broadcast
with BBC Radio 3 for evensong and he made several recordings with the choir, including
Taverners Missa Corona Spinea together with motets by Byrd, and music by
Alonso Lobo for ASV. . Outside of college, he was also director of music at St
Bartholomew-the-Great, Smithfield.(?) b.
August 17th 1964. 2015:
Diane Charlemagne (51)English
electronic dance music singer, born in Manchester. She was lead singer with Urban
Cookie Collective, who had two UK Top 10 hits in the 1990s, and also lead singer
with 1980s funk band, 52nd Street. In 1990, 52nd Street re-emerged as Cool Down
Zone, with Diane providing vocals as well as having writing credits on all 10
songs on their album New Direction. She provided the
vocal for Goldie's Inner City Life, and performed vocals for Moby for many of
his live shows.In 2007, she collaborated with High Contrast on his track "If
We Ever" for the album Tough Guys Don't Dance and the following year she
worked with D:Ream. In 2011 and 2012, she collaborated with Aquasky. Then in 2014,
she again collaborated with S.P.Y on the tracks "Dusty Fingers" and
"Back To Basics" for the album Back To Basics Chapter One and then later
on "Lost Orbit" and "Frozen" for the album Back To Basics
Chapter Two.(sadly
Diane died while fighting cancer)
b. February 2nd 1964.2016:
Melhem Barakat (71) Lebanese singer, songwriter
and melodist, born in Kfarshima. His best-known works were Amarine,
Abouha Radi, Farah Ennass, and Habibi Inta.
He also appeared in many Lebanese movies back in the 1980s, some of his hits from
the 1980s were Kboush El Touti and Wahdi Ana/I am Alone.
During the 1990s, he acted with Lebanese dancer
Dani Boustros in a Lebanese theatre play titled "Wemsheet Bee Tariki"/I
Walked My Way. In the 2000s Melhem collaborated with current famous singers such
as Najwa Karam, Karol Sakr, Shatha Hassoun, and Majida El Roumi.(sadly died while fighting
prostate cancer) b. August 15th 19452016:
John Del Carlo (??)American opera singer who
sang 285 performances at the Metropolitan Opera over the past 23 years. He
played the title role in Don Pasquale, Dr Bartolo in Il Barbiere di Siviglia ,
Swallow in Peter Grimes, Quince in A Midsummer Nights Dream, Mathieu in
Andrea Chenier, Colonel Frank in Die Fledermaus, Baron Zeta in The Merry Widow,
and Alfieri in the Mets premiere of Bolcoms A View from the Bridge.
He was also a stalwart at San Francisco Opera, his home town. Internationally,
he sang at Covent Garden, Paris, Aix-en-Provence, Trieste, Zurich Cologne, Deutsche
Oper am Rhein and Vlaamse Opera.(?)
b. ????October
29th.1953: William Kapell (31)American classical pianist; He won his first competition a t the age of
ten, the prize was a turkey dinner with the pianist José Iturbi. In 1941,
he won the Philadelphia Orchestra's youth competition and the Naumburg Award.
In 1942, the Walter W. Naumburg Foundation sponsored the 19 year old William's
New York début which brought him The Town Hall Award for the year's outstanding
concert by a musician under 30. He was immediately signed to an exclusive recording
contract with RCA. By the late 1940s, he had toured the United States, Canada,
Europe and Australia to immense acclaim and critics considered him the most promising
American pianist of the post-World War II generation. (Flying
back to America from the last performance (at Geelong) of his 37 concert Australian
tour, the plane hit King's Mountain, outside San Francisco; all of the crew and
passengers were tragically killed instantly) b. September
20th 1922. 1963:
Michael Holliday/Norman
Milne (37)
UK singer born in Liverpool who sang in a very similar
style to Bing Crosby. While working as a seaman in the Merchant Navy, Michael
entered a talent contest at Radio City Music Hall in New York, which he won. This
inspired him to seek a career in show business. In 1951 he secured two summer
seasons work as a vocalist with Dick Denny's band at Butlin's Holiday Camp,
Pwllheli, Wales. He made his first TV appearance on The Centre Show on 22 July
1955, which was seen by Norrie Paramor, then head of A&R for EMI's Columbia
record label. He went on to have a long string of hits in the in the UK, including
two number one singles, "The Story of My Life" in 1958 and "Starry
Eyed" in 1960. (Michael suffered badly from stage fright
and had a nervous breakdown in 1961; he committed suicide two years later)b. November 26th
1924.1969: George Murphy
"Pops" Foster (77) American string bass player, he
also played the tuba and trumpet. Born in Ascension Parish, Louisiana, Pops was
one of the first important bassists and he kept the tradition of slap bass solos
alive into the late '60s. He was playing in bands around New Orleans as early
as 1906 working with Jack Carey, Kid Ory, Armand Piron, King Oliver and other
hot bands of the era. In 1921 he moved to St. Louis to play with the Charlie Creath
and Dewey Jackson bands, in which he would be active for much of the decade. He
also joined Ory in Los Angeles. He acquired the nickname "Pops" because
he was far older than any of the other players in the band. In
1929 Foster moved to New York City, where he played with the bands of Luis Russell
and Louis Armstrong through 1940. He giged with various New York-based bands through
the 1940s, including those of Sidney Bechet, Art Hodes, and regular broadcasts
on the national This Is Jazz radio program. In the late 1940s he began touring
more widely and played in many countries in Europe, especially in France, and
throughout the United States including returns to New Orleans and California.
In the late 1950s and early 1960s, he played with Earl Hines' Small Band. In 1966,
he toured Europe with the New Orleans All-Stars (he died
in San Francisco where in his later years, he had made his home)b.
May 19th 1892.1971:
Duane Allman (24)American guitarist born in Nashville, Tennessee;
in 1960, Duane was motivated to take up the guitar by the example of his younger
brother, Gregg. They played in several bands while in school before forming the
Escorts which eventually became the Allman Joys. In 1965, the Allman Joys went
on the road, performing throughout the Southeast and eventually based themselves
in Nashville and St. Louis. After a short stint with The Hour Glass, he was hired
by FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, to play on an album with Wilson Pickett's
Hey Jude, 1968 album. Duanes work on that album got him hired as a full-time session
musician, and
was featured on releases by artists including Clarence Carter, King Curtis, Aretha
Franklin, Otis Rush, Percy Sledge, Johnny Jenkins, Boz Scaggs, Delaney & Bonnie
and jazz flautist Herbie Mann. He
was noted for his mastery of the slide guitar as well as intensity and soulfulness
on "standard" lead and rhythm guitar.On
March 26th 1969, Duane on slide guitar and lead guitar and Gregg on organ and
vocals, formed The Allman Brothers band, along with Dickey Betts, Berry Oakley,
Butch Trucks and Jai Johanny "Jaimoe" Johanson. Their debut album, The
Allman Brothers Band, was recorded in New York in September 1969 and released
a couple months laterwas follrd by intense touring,they
went on to become one of the most influential rock groups of the 1970s. As
well as his work with his new band, Duane also did some work
with Eric Clapton's Derek and the Dominos and still worked occasionally as a session
musician. (Duane tragically died in a motorbike accident,
only months after their success of At Fillmore East and the release of the relating
album. He lost control of his Harley Sportster while trying to swing left, striking
the back of the truck or its crane ball) b. November
20th 1946.1979:
Raymon "Tiki" Fulwood (34)American drummer; in the late
'60s, he was house drummer for the Uptown Theatre in Philadelphia when he met
guitarist Eddie Hazel and bassist Billy Nelson core of The Parliaments musical
backing group, soon he replaced drummer Harvey McGee. The group later became known
as Funkadelic. He also played drums in the Tyrone Davis band between stints with
P-Funk, and later was briefly employed by Miles Davis. He is a member of the Rock
and Roll Hall of Fame, inducted in 1997 with fifteen other members of Parliament-Funkadelic
(stomach cancer)b. May
23rd 19441981:
Georges Brassens (60)French singer-songwriter, born in Sète,
a town in southern France. Now an iconic figure in France, he achieved fame through
his simple, elegant songs and articulate, diverse lyrics; he is considered one
of France's most accomplished postwar poets. He has also set to music poems by
both well-known and relatively obscure poets, including Louis Aragon, Victor Hugo,
François Villon, Jean Richepin, and Guillaume Apollinaire. Many of his
songs including La mauvaise réputation, Les copains d'abord, Le gorille,
Les amoureux des bancs publics, Chanson pour l'Auvergnat, and Supplique pour être
enterré à la plage de Sète, have been translated into 20
languages and been covered by dozens of artists (cancer)b. October 22nd 1921.1986:
Jerome Darr (75)American guitaristand
a member of the Washboard Serenaders from 1933 through to 1936, which included
a well received European tour. He went on to become a busy session musician, Jerome
focused on work as a studio musician during an era when sadly the efforts of such
talented players went largely uncredited. He can be heard recording with the likes
of Frankie Lymon, Jonah Jones, Paul Quinichette, Freddie Mitchell, Jack Dupree,
Charles Thompson, Rex Stewart, Jimmy Wright, Sonny Rollins, Buck Clayton, Papa
Lightfoot Quincey Jones, Buddy Johnson, Charlie Parker and many others (?)
b. December 21st 1910.1987: Woody Herman
(74) American jazz clarinetist, alto - soprano saxophonist, singer,
and big band leader. Leading various groups called "The Herd," and one
of the most popular of the 1930s and '40s bandleaders. His bands often played
music that was experimental for their time. Woody's first band became known for
its orchestrations of the blues and was sometimes billed as "The Band That
Plays The Blues". After two and a half years on Decca, the band had its first
hit, "Woodchopper's Ball" recorded in 1939. In jazz, swing was gradually
being replaced by bebop. Dizzy Gillespie wrote three arrangements for Woody Herman,
"Woody'n You", "Swing Shift" and "Down Under", these
were arranged in 1942. In 1945, Woody teamed up with Igor Stravinsky for the performance
of the Russian master's "Ebony Concerto". He reformed his group in 1947,
calling it the "Second Herd" with a front line of saxophone players,
usually featuring three tenor players and one baritone. He continue to lead groups
for the next several decades Woody's orchestras were "Voted best swing band
in 1945 Down Beat poll; Silver Award by critics in 1946 and 1947 Esquire polls;
won Metronome poll, band division, 1946 and 1953; won NARAS Grammy Award for Encore
as best big band jazz album of 1963; won NARAS Grammy Award for Giant Steps as
best big band jazz album of 1973" and Woody was awarded the Grammy Lifetime
Achievement Award in 1987(?)
b.
May 16th 1913.1998: Paul Misraki (90)French composer of popular music and film scores, born in Constantinople
now Istanbul, Turkey, he showed aptitude for music at an early age. He went to
Paris to study classical composition, and by the 1930s had become an established
jazz pianist, arranger and writer of popular songs; around this time he began
composing film scores, with his first known work being for Jean Renoir's first
sound film, On purge bébé, for which he was uncredited. As a composer
and lyricist of popular songs, his first hit was 1934's "Tout va tres bien,"
and during his careers in France, America and Argentina he wrote successful songs
in French, English and Spanish. Over the course of over 60 years, Paul wrote the
music to 130 films, scoring works by directors like Jean Renoir, Claude Chabrol,
Jacques Becker, Jean-Pierre Melville, Jean-Luc Godard, Henri-Georges Clouzot,
Orson Welles, Luis Buñuel and Roger Vadim.
For
his work, he was made a Chevalier de la Legion d'Honneur(died of natural causes
in Paris) b.
January 28th 1908. 2003:
Franco Corelli (82) Italian tenor who
had a major international opera career between 1951 and 1976. Associated in particular
with the spinto and dramatic tenor roles of the Italian repertory, he was celebrated
universally for his powerhouse voice, brilliant top notes, vibrant timbre, passionate
singing and remarkable performances and was dubbed the "Prince of tenors".
He had a long and fruitful partnership with the Metropolitan Opera in New York
City between 1961 and 1975. He also appeared on the stages of most of the major
opera houses in Europe and with opera companies throughout North America. (He
died in Milan, having suffered a stroke earlier that year)
b. April 8th 1921. 2008:
Mike Baker (45)American lead singer with
the progressive metal band Shadow Gallery. In
1985, Mike along
with Carl Cadden-James, Ron Evans, and John Coonie formed the progressive metal
band Sorcerer in Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania. After some line-up changes they
changed their name to Shadow Gallery in 1991. Mike released 5 albums with Shadow
Gallery the last being "Room V" in 2005. Before forming Sorcerer and
Shadow Gallery,
in the early 1980s he performed vocals on demos with local bands, including
Nasty Nasty and Axxis. Mike also performed guest vocals on the single "Day
Sixteen: Loser" from Ayreon's 2004 album The Human Equation. (heart
attack)b. September 2nd 19632011:
Sir Jimmy Savile (84)British disc jockey, television presenter and
charity fundraiser, raising over £40,000,000; but is best known for his
BBC television show Jim'll Fix It, and for being the first and last presenter
of the long-running BBC chart show Top of the Pops. He was also well known for
his support of various charities and fundraising efforts, particularly Stoke Mandeville
Hospital. Born ii Leeds, he was a Bevin Boy, conscripted during World War II to
work as a coal miner at South Kirkby Colliery, West Yorkshire. Having started
playing records in dance halls in the early 1940s, he claimed to be the first
ever disc jockey and is acknowledged as one of the pioneers of twin turntables
for continuous play of music. Jimmy
later lived in Salford, and worked as manager of the Plaza Ballroom in Oxford
Road, Manchester, in the mid-fifties and he also managed the Mecca Locarno ballroom
in Leeds around the late 50s and early 60s. Mecca also owned
the >>>READ
MORE<<<(Jimmy
died in his sleep at his home in Roundhay, Leeds)
b. October 31st 1926.2012:
Joel Burrows (?)American
longtime musician and fixture of the Portland music scene. He performed with many
Portland bands and was a talented multi-instrumentalist, playing drums for the
Minders and guitar in the Thermals, among his contributions for many other bands(In 2011, Joel was struck by a van as he crossed the street
and suffered a serious head injury. He spent months in the ICU and fought for
his life. He made substantial progress and was able to live in an assisted living
facility for people with brain injuries. Sadly he has passed away after fighting
bravely for his life for many months)b. ????.2012: Blake Mackey (?) American
artist, musician, and founder of Architect Records from Portland. He released
a number of albums over the years, ranging from acoustic singer/songwriterly material
to more electric psych, and ran the Architect Records label. (death
announced on this date) b. ????2013:
Sherman Halsey (56)American
music video and television director, producer and artist manager, born in Independence,
Kansas. While studying film at the University of Kansas, he promoted concerts
with artists from his fathers management and concert promotion company, the Jim
Halsey Company's roster such as The Oak Ridge Boys, Freddy Fender, Hank Thompson,
Don Williams and many others. Sherman went on to produce and direct hundreds of
television shows and more than 70 music videos for country music's biggest stars,
including Tim McGraw, Brooks and Dunn, Alan Jackson, BB King, Michael Bolton and
Dwight Yoakam(A cause of death has not been
released, but officials said foul play was not suspected.Sadly
his body was found at his home by an acquaintance who went to check on him at
the request of family members)
b. February 22nd 1957.2013:
Rudolf Kehrer (90)Georgian-born German classical pianist, born in Tiflis,
Georgia, to a family of piano-makers who had emigrated from Swabia, Germany.He
started his recording career in 1961, which lasted over 40 years until 2001. He
worked in many diverse locations, including Moscow, Kiev, Weimar, Remagen, Eggenberg,
Munich, Berlin, Jena, Szeged, Prague, Cologne, Meppen, Busch, Montabaur, Tokyo,
Alsfeld, Overath and Eisenach (?)
b. July 10th 1923. 2015:
Jacques Delécluse (82) French legendary
percussionist and composer born in Béthune; he was student at the Paris
Conservatory and was the first student to win the first prize for percussion and
piano. After conservatory, he started a 5-person ensemble called Du Martu Somet,
before participating in the creation of the Domaine Musical with Pierre Boulez
and integrates the Orchestra of the Paris Opera, he left the same year for the
Société des Concerts du Conservatoire, which in 1967 became the
Orchestre de Paris. Jacques also taught at the Paris Conseratory for over 30 years
(?)b.
September 15th 1933.2015: Tony Van Frater
(51)English guitarist, born in Sunderland; he
founding member of the punk/oi!-band, Red Alert, which debuted in the summer of
1979, at a carnival in Sunderland, performing mostly Clash and UK Subs covers.
Tony also pperformed with the punk bands Angelic Upstarts and Cockney Rejects
(sadly Tony died from a massive heart attack)
b. 1964. 2016:
Roland Dyens (61) French classical guitarist
and composer born in Tunis, Tunisia. He studied guitar with classical guitarist
Alberto Ponce and analysis with Désiré Dondeyne and won several
prizes in competitions for classical guitar performance as well as for composition.
As a performer, he is known for his extraordinary capacity for improvisation.
Tango en Skaï (1985), is one of his best-known pieces, but also widely played
is the more extended Libra Sonatine (1986) written in three movements: "India",
"Largo", "Fuoco". Roland toured extensively and performed
at many music festivals and held master classes at many locations across Europe,
the United States and Asia. He also taught at the Conservatoire
National Supérieur de Musique de Paris, where he was
Professor of Guitar (?)
b. October 19th 1955. 2016:
Paul Demers (60) Canadian singer-songwriter,
and a founding member and former president of the Association of Professionals
of the song and the Franco-Ontarian music (APCM). Born in Gatineau, Quebec, he
composed songs like 'Again', 'Our Place', and 'Single Years'. Parallel to his
career he also fought against Hodgkin's Disease.(sadly
died of lung cancer) b. March 9th 1956.October
30th.1522: Jean Mouton (63)French singer, composer, teacher; he was one of the most important
motet composers of the French Renaissance period, he was a court composer for
the king. Of his music, 9 Magnificat settings, 15 masses, 20 chansons, and over
100 motets survive (?)
b. 1459 1945: Xian Xinghai (40)Chinese
composer. Although he composed in all the major musical forms which includes two
symphonies, a violin concerto, four large scale choral works, nearly 300 songs
and an opera, he is best known for his Yellow River Cantata upon which the Yellow
River Concerto for piano and orchestra is based. During the Sino-Japanese War,
he wrote vocal works that encouraged the people to fight the Japanese invaders,
including Saving the Nation, Non-Resistance the Only Fear, Song of Guerrillas,
The Roads Are Opened by Us, The Vast Siberia, Children of the Motherland, Go to
the Homefront of the Enemy, and On the Taihang Mountains, among others. In 1938
he became dean of the Music Department at Lu Xun Institute of Arts in Yan'an.
It is at this time that he composed the famous Yellow River Cantata and the Production
Cantata. In 1940 Xian went to the Soviet Union to compose the score of the documentary
film Yan'an and the Eighth Route Army. In 1941 the German invasion of the Soviet
Union disrupted his work and he attempted to return to China by way of Xinjiang
but the local anti-communist warlord, Sheng Shicai, blocked the way and he got
stranded in Alma Ata, Kazakhstan. It was here that he composed the symphonies
Liberation of the Nation and Sacred War, and the suites Red All Over the River
and Chinese Rhapsody for winds and strings. Both the Xinghai Concert Hall and
the Xinghai Conservatory of Music in Guangzhou were named after him
(he developed pulmonary tuberculosis due to overwork and malnutrition. After the
war, he went back to Moscow for medical treatment but could not be cured and died
in a hospital nearby the Moscow Kremlin)b. June
13th 1905.1968: Malcolm Hale (27)
American lead guitarist, trombonist, vocals, and a founding member of the folk
rock group Spanky And Our Gang. Their debut self titled album, produced 3 hit
singles "Sunday Will Never Be The Same", "Making Every Minute Count"
and "Lazy Day". Their second album, Like to Get to Know You, produced
a further 2 hit singles "Sunday Mornin'" and "Like To Get To Know
You". They reseased a single "Give a Damn" in the summer of 1968,
in spite of being banned in several states because of the profanity in its title,
and in some cases due to the fact that it was a comment on racial equality that
became the theme song for the New York Urban Coalition and would later become
John Lindsay's campaign song during his successful run for Mayor of New York (tragically
died of carbon monoxide poisoning due to a faulty space heater)
b. May 17th 1941.1984: Wells Kelly (34) American
drummer, percussionist, and a founder member of the rock-pop band Orleans, formed
in Woodstock, New York in Feb 1972. They were best known for "Dance with
Me"-1975, "Still the One" from the album Waking and Dreaming-1976,
and "Love Takes Time"-1979. "Still the One" played on the
ABC television network as the theme song for their '77 promotional campaign. Since
then, it has been used for numerous commercials and movie soundtracks. Prior to
Orleans, from the late 60s, Wells had played in several other bands including
Thunderfrog, King Harvest, and Boffalongo. In the early 80's he left Orleans and
joined Steve Forberts' Flying Squirrels. Wells moved to New York were he toured
and sessioned with Meatloaf and Clarence Clemmons among others. In 1983, he joined
Meatloafs' Neverland Express World Tour in 1983 ... read
more ...(tragically Wells died of a heroin
overdose at a party in London, England, while over there recording with Meat Loaf)b. April 7th 19492000:
Steve Allen (78) American composer, pianist, comedian and writer born
in New York City, but was raised on the south side of Chicago by his mother's
Irish Catholic family. Steve went on to be instrumental in innovating the concept
of the television talk show and is called the father of TV talk shows. As well
as his huge and successful TV career, Steve was a creditable pianist, and a prolific
composer, having penned over 14,000 songs, one of which was recorded by Perry
Como and Margaret Whiting, others by Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme, Les Brown,
and Gloria Lynne. Allen won a Grammy award in 1963 for best jazz composition,
with his song The Gravy Waltz. He also wrote more than 50 books and has two stars
on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. (sadly he died of a cardiac
arrest triggered by a minor traffic accident that occurred earlier that day) b.
December 26th 1921.2002: Jam Master Jay /
Jason William Mizell (37) America rapper, the founder and DJ of Run-DMC,
prior to this he played drums and bass in earlier garage bands. He founded the
'Scratch DJ Academy' in Manhattan for children interested in DJing. In 1989, he
established the label Jam Master Jay Records, which scored a strong success in
1993 with the band Onyx. He also connected Chuck D with Def Jam co-founder Rick
Rubin. (brutually murdered by an assassin's single bullet
at his recording studio in Queens, New York)b. January
21st 1965.2003: Steve O'Rourke (63)
British band manager born in Willesden, London, well known for being the manager
of the highly influential rock band Pink Floyd from after the departure of Syd
Barrett in 1968 until his death. He first managed Pink Floyd while working at
the Bryan Morrison Agency, then NEMS Enterprises. Later, he founded his own company,
EMKA Productions. Steve also built a highly successful parallel career as an enthusiastic
gentleman racing driver - a lifelong passion which he shared with the Floyd's
drummer Nick Mason (Steve sadly suffered a stroke while
in Miami, Florida, USA) b. October 1st 1940. 2007: Linda S. Stein (62) American rock music
manager and real estate broker. Born in New York City, she was the manager of
the Ramones and also managed singer and songwriter Steve Forbert. In the 90s Linda
left band management to become a "real estate agent to the stars" landing
mega-million-dollar apartments for the likes of Madonna, Sting, Angelina Jolie,
Billy Joel, Christie Brinkley, Bruce Willis, Jann Wenner, Michael Douglas, Steven
Spielberg and Elton John among others . (tragically Linda
brutally murdered in her apartment by former personal assistant Natavia Lowery)b. April 24th 1945. 2007:
Robert Gerard Goulet (73) Grammy and Tony Award winning American entertainer,
born in Lawrence, Massachusetts. after his family moved to Edmonton he attended
the famous voice schools founded by Herbert G. Turner and Jean Letourneau, and
later became a radio announcer for radio station CKUA. Upon graduating from Victoria
Composite high school, he received a scholarship to The Royal Conservatory of
Music in Toronto. Robert rose to international stardom in 1960 as Lancelot in
Lerner and Loewe's hit Broadway musical Camelot. His long career as a singer and
actor encompassed theatre, radio, television and film (He
died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Centre of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, a lung desease,
while awaiting a lung transplant)b. November 26th
1933.2008: Didier Sinclair (43) French
pioneer of french "FM", techno DJ, music producer and artistic director
of FG Dj Radio. He started out on France's youth-oriented NRJ radio in 1982, and
went on to score his first recording success with the album "Groove2me"
in 1999. The following year, his "Lovely Flight" became an international
hit, and Sinclair became a regular behind the turntables in big techno clubs (died
after a long illness) b. 19662009:
Norton Buffalo (58) American singer-songwriter and harmonica player,
born in California; after playing with such Bay Area groups as Clover, The Moonlighters,
and Elvin Bishop, he joined the "farewell" European tour of Commander
Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen in early 1976, and was recorded on the band's
final live album We've Got A Live One Here!. Later in 1976 he joined the Steve
Miller Band's 'Fly Like an Eagle national tour and played harmonica on the band's
hit follow-up album Book of Dreams. His association with the Steve Miller Band
lasted over 30 years. By the late 1970s Norton had formed his own band, The Stampede,
recording two albums: Lovin' in the Valley of the Moon and Desert Horizon. In
the late 70s and early 80s he was a member of the Mickey Hart band, High Noon.
He also worked in films, appearing in 'The Rose', 'Heaven's Gate' and others.
Throughout his career Norton performed and recorded music often as a session musician,
and had appeared on 180 albums. He played harmonica on two tracks on The Doobie
Brothers' Grammy award winning 1978 album Minute By Minute. He was also nominated
for a Grammy in 1992 for "Best Country Instrumental Performance" for
the tune "Song For Jessica" from his 1991 Duet CD R&B with Guitarist
Roy Rogers (sadly died fighting lung cancer) b.
September 28th 1951.2010: Sean Carasov (49)
British-born American music industry figure; after roading for the Clash, he was
the road-tour-personal manager, under Russell Simmons for the Beastie Boys from
their early club dates to the recording of Licensed to Ill, the Raising Hell,
Together Forever, and Licensed to Ill tours. After touring with the Beastie Boys,
he accepted a desk job with Rush Management. When the Beastie Boys sued Def Jam-Rush
to break from their contract, Sean followed their lead and moved to CA to pursue
new opportunities. He went on to do A&R work for several record labels including
Mammoth, Atlantic and Jive. At Jive, he was responsible for signing A Tribe Called
Quest and compiling the soundtrack for "Menace II Society".
Sean was a frequent writer, published in a number of international magazines,
such as Bikini, Max, Blast, Asayan, Daytonaand
the Beastie Boys'
Grand Royal Magazine.
He was the music supervisor for the 1999 film "American Pimp" and the
2001 film "Prison Song",
in which Q-Tip co-wrote, produced and starred. More recently, Sean worked in the
A&R business at Ted Field's label, ARTIST direct Records. (tragically
he commited suicide by gunshot) b. November 17th
1961.2011: George Rountree (61)
American bandleader, composer and musical leader of the Four Tops. Though not
a performing member of the famed vocal quartet, he was a lynchpin behind-the-scenes
associate and performed a host of roles including musical director, arranger,
composer, trumpeter and keyboardist. George, also known as Tree, was born in Detroit,
the home of Motown and worked with such greats as the Temptations, Gladys Knight,
Frankie Valli, Bill Withers and Martha Reeves. After serving as The Four Tops
musical director for over 30 years, he has lived and performed in Las Vegas since
2000 (?)b. 19502012: Robert Poulton (55) British baritone
with the Glyndebourne Opera; after studying at the Guildhall School of Music and
Drama and the National Opera Studio, he began his professional career in the Glyndebourne
chorus and performed central roles both in its festival and tours. His recent
projects included La Traviata with Opera Holland Park and the Royal Opera House,
Tosca with the Scottish Opera, and Aida at the Royal Albert Hall. International
appearances included engagements with Netherlands Opera, Opera Zuid and Salzburger
Landestheater (tragically killed in a car crash in Sussex)
b. June 4th 19572013: Frank Wellington Wess (91)American
jazz saxophonist and flutist, born in Kansas City, Missouri; he began as a classical
musician, before switching to jazz when he moved to Washington, D.C. and by 19
was working in the Big Bands. After serving in WW2 he joined Billy Eckstine and
from 1953-64 he was a member of Count Basie's band, also, from 1959 to 1964 he
won Down Beat's critic poll for flute. He was a member of Clark Terry's big band
from '67 into the '70s and played in the New York Jazz Quartet as well as doing
a variety of work for TV, as well as recording with the likes of Zoot Sims, Arif
Mardin, Woody Shaw, Melvin Sparks, Bobby Hutcherson, Elvin Jones, Leon Spencer,
Chico O'Farrill to mention a few >>> READ
MORE <<<(sadly
Frank died from kidney failure) b. January 4th 1922.2013:
Pete Haycock (62)English lead guitarist, vocalist,
and founding member of the Climax Blues Band. born in Stafford where he attended
St.John's Primary School, then King Edward VI Boys Grammar School and played his
first gig at a miners club at the age of 12. In 1968 at 17, he founded the Climax
Chicago Blues Band along with Richard Jones on bass, guitarist-vocalist Derek
Holt, keyboardist Arthur Wood, George Newsome on drums and harmonica player- vocalist
Colin Cooper; they changed their name to the Climax Blues Band in 1970. The band
produced more than 15 successful albums in their heyday, before they finally split
in 1988. Pete launched a solo career and in 1990, he joined up with former ELO's
Bev Bevan, to form Electric Light Orchestra Part II. The group toured and recorded
in the early 1990s, releasing both a live CD and video of their performance with
the Moscow Symphony Orch. Also 90s Pete began scoring music for films, he was
asked by Hans Zimmer to collaborate on several projects, including K2 and Drop
Zone among others. Pete formed several of his own bands, continued to record and
perform and had been a featured guest with the Siggi Schwarz' band, performing
on the same bill with ZZ Top and Johnny Winter in 2012. In 2013 he formed of a
super-group recording and scheduled for touring as Pete Haycock's Climax Blues
Band featuring Robin George, several tracks of new material had been completed
before Pete's death (sadly died from a heart attack)
b. March 4th 1951.2015:
Dickie Hammond (49)English guitarist and a founder member of the punk
band Leatherhead, formed in Sunderland in 1988. At this time Dickie was already
an established guitarist performing with the band HDQ. With 'Leatherface', he
released 4 full-length albums before their initial split in 1993. The third album,
"Mush", was widely considered to be one of the most intense records
of the 1990s, with some of the fiercest playing and song dynamics. After they
broke up, they released a "posthumous" mini-album called "The Last"
in 1994, after which they reformed in 1998. (?)
b. 1965. 2015: Zehra Deovic (76)Bosnian sevdalinka and folk singer, born in Foca,
Kingdom of Yugoslavia. She was one of the leading female singers of the 1960s
and 1970s in Yugoslavia. She started working at Radio Sarajevo in 1960 and released
her first album two years later. Through her career she was a frequent performer
in the annual music festival in Ilida (?)
b. December 9th 1938.

October
31st.1989: Roger Scott (46) British radio disc
jockey born in London, best known for presenting an afternoon radio show on London's
Capital Radio from 1973 until 1988. As a merchant seaman, he found his way to
the US and joined the radio station WPTR in Albany, New York in 1966 and learned
the craft of disc jockey, working with Boom Boom Brannigan and other legendary
names. Eight months later he left WPTR to become the evening presenter at the
Montreal station 1470 CFOX. Roger returned to the UK when Commercial radio was
authorized and in 1973 he joined the original on-air line-up of London's Capital
Radio. In 1976 his regular Friday rush-hour oldies show "Cruising" acquired
a cult following, largely owing to his introduction of obscure rock-a-billy records
(sadly lost to cancer)b. October
23rd 1943.1995: Erika Morini (91) Austrian
violinist born in Vienna, she made her début in Berlin, in 1917, and her
American début at New York on January 26th 1921 was one of the musical
sensations of the year, since then she performed in the US often, both in recital
and with the foremost orchestras. She relocated to New York in 1938, and began
spelling her first name Erica. She made her first visit to London in 1923. Erica
retired in 1976 (died in New York soon after the theft of
her Stradivari violin) b. January 5th 1904.2000: Watanabe Kazuki (19) Japanese guitarist
born in Shibuya, Tokyo. After playing some roles in a few TV programs and a film,
in 1997 as lead guitarist, he went on to form and lead the band Raphael which
was one of the visual kei bands in Japan. They released their debut album "Lilac"
on April 7th 1998. This was followed by the release of four further albums. He
also had a side-project called Yuri Juujidan all their tracks were instrumental,
Watanabe died before he could put his voice to them (tragically
died from a drug overdose) b. April 7th 1981.2001: Bill LeSage (73) British pianist, vibraphonist,
part of the first wave of British bebop musicians to emerge in the late 1940s.
Born in London he joined "Geraldo's Navy" and played on Cunard's transatlantic
liner, the Queen Mary sailing to New York, where he worked with Lennie Tristano.
In 1950 he joined the Johnny Dankworth Seven and his big band, staying with Johnny
until 1961. In 1969, he formed the Bebop Preservation Society quintet, From the
60's on he also played with to mention some, the Chris Barber Band, Jack Parnell's
orchestra, the Charlie Watts Big Band, Johnny Scott and Barbara Thompson's Jubiaba
and his own group, as well as accompanying visiting US musicians such as Benny
Goodman, Dizzy Gillespie and Ben Webster, amongst others. He remained a lifelong
devotee throughout a long and distinguished career (sadly
lost to cancer) b. January 20th 1927.2003: Dr. Srinivasa Iyer (95) Indian vocalist;
one of the great Carnatic vocalists of the 20th century and the youngest recipient
of the Sangeetha Kalanidhi awarded by the Music Academy in '47. He succeeded Harikesanallur
Bhagavathar as Principal of the Swathi Thirunal College of Music at Thiruvananthapuram,
a post he held for 23 years, until the age of 55. He also became the Chief Producer
of Carnatic music at All India Radio, Madras from 1957 to 1960. In later life,
he concentrated on concert performances and tutoring youngsters. He gave public
concerts even after the age of 90 (?) b.
July 25th 1908.2005: John "Beatz"
Holohan (31) American drummer raised in Long Island NY, who gained
his nickname from 80's rapper Big Daddy Kane. John worked as a band director for
the Saint John's University pep band and played in many bands, although he is
best known for his work in the alternative rock group Bayside from 2004 until
his untimely death. His only release with Bayside was their 2004 self titled album.
(after leaving their Boulder, Colorado show, Bayside's tour
van hit a patch of ice, skidded off the road, and flipped over, John tragically
died in the accident) b. March 15th 1974.2008: Sir John Pearse (69) British-born guitarist
and folk singer; he wrote and presented the first ever series of televised guitar
lessons for the BBC, "Hold Down a Chord". Moving to the USA in '78,
he designed products for the Martin Guitar Company & co-founded Breezy Ridge
Instruments, for the purpose of marketing his line of guitar strings, guitar accessories,
it became the vehicle for his musical inventions and theories (passed
away peacefully in his sleep at his home in Germany)b.
19392009: Chen Lin (39) Chinese
pop singer; she rose to stardom with her 1993 album entitled I Can Never Understand
Your Love, which reached the top of the Chinese album charts selling 1.5 million
copies. Chen also had several hit singles including "I Choose What I Want"
and "Give up Your Love" (suicide by jumping from
the ninth floor of an apartment in Chaoyang District, Beijing)b.
January 31st 1970.2011: Liz Anderson (81)
American country music singer-songwriter born in Roseau, Minnesota,
then moved to Sacramento, California in 1957. She was one of a wave of a new generation
of female vocalists in the genre during the 1960's to write and record her own
songs on a regular basis. She received two Grammy Award nominations in 1967, for
"Best Female Country Vocal Performance" for her Top 5 hit, the self-penned
"Mama Spank" and with Bobby Bare and Norma Jean for "Best Country
Vocal - Group" for another top 5 hit "The Game of Triangles". Luz
also wrote many of the early hits for her daughter, Lynn Anderson, and several
hits for other artists, notably Merle Haggard, "All My Friends Are Gonna
Be Strangers" and "I'm a Lonesome Fugitive". Haggard later named
his band "The Strangers" after the hit and Liz won a BMI award for the
song. She published over 260 songs during her career and earned five BMI awards.
Many major country artists of the 1960s recorded at least one of her songs on
their albums, including Charley Pride, Ernest Tubb, Tammy Wynette, Loretta Lynn,
George Jones, Skeeter Davis, Waylon Jennings, Kitty Wells, Connie Smith and Bill
Anderson (sadly Liz passed away with heart complications
and lung disease) b. January 13th 1930.2014:
Ian Fraser (81)English composer and conductor
born in Hove. He served for 5 years in the British Armed Forces and performed
as a solo concert pianist, harpist and percussionist with the Royal Artillery
Band.
He met Anthony Newley while working at Decca Records in the 50s and hired as arranger
and musical director of Newley and Leslie Bricusse's new stage West End musical,
Stop the WorldI Want to Get Off, in 1961, and when it transferred to Broadway,
Ian went with it. While living in NYC, he again worked with Bricusse on the musical
Pickwick, after which, he relocated to LA. He re-teamed with both Bricusse and
Newley on the 1967 musical film Doctor Dolittle, Scrooge, and Hallmark Hall of
Fame's 1976 TV musical Peter Pan. He also collaborated with Bricusse on the 1986
TV movie Babes in Toyland. His many collaborations with Andrews included The Julie
Andrews Hour; five television specials; two Christmas albums; the 45th Tony Awards
in 1991; two Grammy Award-nominated Broadway albums, 1995's Broadway: The Music
of Richard Rodgers and 1997's Broadway: Here I'll Stay-The Words of Alan Jay Lerner;
and Broadway's Victor/Victoria, which also re-teamed Ian with Bricusse. Other
career highlights include having served as musical director for several Primetime
Emmy Awards as well as the 56th Academy Awards and musical director for Bing Crosby's
last Christmas special, 1977's Bing Crosby's Merrie Olde Christmas, making him
the last person to conduct the holiday classic "White Christmas" for
Crosby. He also co-wrote the song "Peace on Earth" as a counterpoint
to "The Little Drummer Boy" for David Bowie to sing during a famed duet
with Crosby(sadly Ian died while
fighting cancer) b. August 23rd 1933. 2014:
Käbi Laretei (92)Estonian
concert pianist, born in Tartu. She had a long and distinguished career as a pianist
and played to packed halls in the United Kingdom, Sweden, West Germany and the
United States, including Carnegie Hall. She was awarded Estonia's Order of the
National Coat of Arms, 3rd Class in 1998 (?)
b. July 14th 1922. 2014: Renato Sellani (88)Italian jazz pianist and composer born in Senigallia.
He started his professional career in 1954, when he entered the Basso-Valdambrini
Quintet.Then in 1958 he started a long collaboration with his longtime friend
Franco Cerri. He was part of the RAI orchestra directed by Gorni Kramer. As a
pianist, he collaborated with Chet Baker, Billie Holiday, Dizzie Gillespie, Lee
Konitz, Bill Coleman, Gerry Mulligan, Enrico Rava and Tony Scott, among others.
He was also an incidental music composer for stage plays, and his works include
several scores for the Piccolo Teatro in Milan and a long collaboration with the
stage company of Tino Buazzelli (?)
b. January 8th 1926. 2015:
Mihai Alexandru (?)Romanian guitarist and member
of the metalcore band Goodbye to Gravity, formed in Bucharest in 2011. The band
had released two albums Goodbye to Gravity in 2012 and Mantras of War in 2015,
which they were promoting at the club. (tragically
died in the blaze of a fire while performing at Colectiv Nightclub in Bucharest.
The band's pyrotechnics display set off a deadly fire, greatly accelerated by
polyurethane foam used in the club to dampen sound waves. 45 people were killed)
b. ??????2015: Vlad Telea (37)
Romanian guitarist
and member of the metal band Goodbye to Gravity., formed in Bucharest in 2011.
The band had released two albums Goodbye to Gravity in 2012 and Mantras of War
in 2015, which they were promoting at the club.(tragically
died in the blaze of a fire while performing at Colectiv Nightclub in Bucharest.
The band's pyrotechnics display set off a deadly fire, greatly accelerated by
polyurethane foam used in the club to dampen sound waves. 45 people were killed)
b. 1978.2015:
Dave Carey (90)English singer and drummer; he
started out on the drums in local banda; in the 1940'she was conscripted
into the armed forces, the Cheshire Regiment, were he carried the big Bass drum
in the Marching Band. He was also in the army band; he
had a week at Scarborough with the Military Band playing in the middle of the
lake and performing in the Open air Theatre. While in the army, he, along with
tenor sax player Eddie Ward formed a small dance band with himself playing drums
and main singer, Bill Harries on trumpet, Sgt. Joe Jelly on >>>READ
MORE<<<(Dave
had been battling Alzheimers, he died peacefully in his sleep) b.
1925.